Recent data shows that condominium and HDB rents in Singapore have been trending down for six consecutive months, giving tenants a bit of a breather.

According to estimates from real estate websites SRX and 99.co, condo rents in Singapore fell by 0.7 per cent in January 2024 compared to December last year, marking the sixth consecutive month of declines, and were only slightly higher by 0.4 per cent compared to the same period last year.

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The situation varies within different districts. Private rents in the Core Central Region (CCR) rose slightly by 0.4 per cent, while flat rents in the Outside Central Region (OCR) fell by 1 per cent, and in the Other Central Region (RCR) by 1.6 per cent. This drop in prices spurred activity in the condo rental market, with 6,016 condos for rent in Singapore last month, a 6.2 per cent increase from the previous month.

In the HDB market, apart from the four-room HDB flats, where rents were relatively stable, rents for all other types of HDB flats generally declined, with the largest drop of 3 per cent for condominium HDB flats (EXECUTIVE). Rents are expected to continue to fall in the future.

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In addition, the rental market is also showing signs of a significant rebound in the number of transactions. In January this year, there were a total of 3,024 HDB flats for rent island-wide, an increase of 4.6 per cent from the previous month and 5.3 per cent year-on-year. This indicates that market demand is gradually picking up and activity in the rental market is on the rise.

One of the reasons for the drop in rentals is that HDB flats and flats, which had previously experienced delays in starting construction due to various reasons, have largely been completed and are ready for occupancy by tenants. This has led to an increase in the supply of flats in the market, thus easing the previous supply-demand tension and causing rents to start trending downwards.