[SINGAPORE] The resale prices of Housing Board flats climbed for the sixth consecutive quarter to exceed their previous peak in the second quarter of 2013 by 0.7 per cent, flash estimates showed on Friday.
HDB resale prices for the the July-September period rose 2.7 per cent over the previous three months, slightly lower than the 3 per cent increases recorded in the first and second quarters of 2021. Year on year, prices are up by 12.3 per cent.
Defying the economic slowdown brought about by Covid-19, prices have risen strongly this year, in part due to delays in the completion of new HDB flats as the pandemic caused manpower shortages, supply chain disruptions and forced some construction firms out of business.
Lee Sze Teck, senior director for research at Huttons Asia, noted that HDB resale prices have increased by 8.9 per cent so far this year, 14 per cent since the circuit breaker in the second quarter of 2020 and 15 per cent since the bottom in the second quarter of 2019.
Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie senior vice-president of research and analytics, said the current housing boom is largely fuelled by couples turning from the Build-To-Order (BTO) market to the resale market, and upgraders who are buying bigger flats.
“More couples are opting for completed homes in the secondary market amid growing uncertainty about the completion dates of new BTO flats,” she said.
source: The Business Times
