MediaCorp English news network CNA reported that Qian Wenlan, the Wong Ting Fong Chair Professor of Real Estate at the National University of Singapore Business School, said that an oversupply of luxury houses and strong demand from high net worth individuals are the two main factors pushing up rents. She pointed out that due to the country's small land area, there are very limited luxury houses for rent.

Data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority shows that the number of landed homes under construction has fallen sharply after peaking in the fourth quarter of 2012. As of the first quarter of this year, there were about 73,000 landed homes in Singapore, less than 19 percent of the total private housing stock.

More people have been setting up family offices in the country over the past two years, which has also pushed up market demand, as foreigners are unable to buy local landed properties, but they can afford to pay high rents, according to Cheng Tianfu, provost chair professor of real estate at NUS Business School.

According to CBRE's head of Southeast Asia research, Mingwei Song, rents have increased for all three types of landed properties, which include detached houses, semi-detached houses and row houses.

The largest rental increases were seen for detached houses in prime locations, which include Orchard Road, Lembah Bali, Bukit Timah, Newton and Novena. From the third quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of this year, the median rent rose from S$1.70 to S$3.75 per square foot, an increase of 120%.

This means that the median rent for a detached house of 15,070 square feet has more than doubled from S$25,619 to S$56,512.50 in less than three years. In Singapore, to be classified as a detached house, the minimum size is 15,070 square feet.

She estimates that there is still room for rents to rise in this market.

She noted that high net worth individuals and families are setting up offices or companies in Singapore, indicating that they are able and willing to pay high rents for quality townhouses.

While some foreigners may already own private properties, they are unable to buy landed homes because they are not Singapore citizens or permanent residents," she said. As such, they are willing to pay high prices to rent a spacious home to suit their lifestyle."

She said this, coupled with the country's recent increase in the additional buyer's stamp duty for foreigners to 60 percent, could to lead to more foreigners opting to rent, including renting a foreign home.

On the other hand, local private apartment rentals showed signs of slowing down, slipping from 8.3 percent in the third quarter of last year and 7.5 percent in the fourth quarter to 6.2 percent in the first quarter of this year