HDB resale prices rose by 10.4 per cent in 2022, down from 12.7 per cent in 2021. However, this is still significantly higher than the 5% increase in 2020, and the resale price index is at an all-time high.
The HDB resale price index was 171.9 in the fourth quarter of last year, up 2.3 per cent year-on-year but still the smallest quarterly increase in the past year due to cooling measures and high interest rates, and the lowest quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2020, when it rose by 1.5 per cent.
Singapore Eye has also reported a number of news stories of record high resale prices. For example, among the HDB flats resold in December last year, a double-storey condominium HDB flat in Bukit Timah Road Yi Passage was resold for a whopping S$1.29 million.
In terms of transaction volume, there were 27,896 HDB resale transactions in 2022, a 10.1 per cent drop from 30,1017 transactions in 2021.
In line with the continuous rise in HDB resale prices, private home prices in Singapore have been on the rise for six consecutive years.
According to data from the Housing Development Board of Singapore, the overall private home price index was 188.6 in the fourth quarter of last year, 0.4 per cent higher than the 187.8 in the third quarter.
For 2022 as a whole, prices rose by 8.6 per cent, down from 10.6 per cent a year ago, as the rate of price increases slowed.
For all categories of non-landed private housing, prices in the Other Central Region (RCR), representing mid-range private housing, rose the most, by 3.1 per cent in the fourth quarter last year, up from 2.8 per cent in the third quarter.
Prices in the Core Central Region (CCR), representing upmarket private housing, rose by 0.7 per cent, down from 2.3 per cent in the previous quarter.
Prices for private housing outside the Central District (OCR), which represents the mass market, fell by 2.6 per cent, reversing a 7.5 per cent increase in the third quarter.
Overall, non-landed private home prices rose by 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, down from 4.4 per cent in the previous quarter, and by 8.1 per cent for the year as a whole, while landed private home prices rose by 0.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, also down from 1.6 per cent in the previous quarter, and by 9.6 per cent for the year as a whole.
Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policy, Mr Ong Swee Keat, expressed concern over private property prices.
He noted that despite the global economic uncertainty and the increasing supply of private homes, prices are still rising and the nation's demand for private homes for self-occupation remains strong. Singapore will continue to keep a close eye on property prices and mortgage rates, and is committed to providing affordable homes for the nation.
Addressing the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore's (REDAS) Chinese New Year event on Friday (Jan 27), Mr Wong said the government would put up to 23,000 HDB flats on sale this year to meet national demand for housing. The government has also increased the supply of private housing through the Land Sales Programme, which supplied 6,300 units last year and another 4,300 in the first half of this year.
He also said it was important to be concerned about the sharp rise in mortgage interest rates, which would lead to higher monthly repayments for borrowers.
He said the three-month Singapore dollar overnight rate (SORA), the main reference for floating rates, had risen from 0.2 per cent to 3 per cent in the past year and was likely to rise further in the coming months before stabilising.
Singapore has also been trying to catch up with construction work that has been delayed by the epidemic, and the Housing Development Board (HDB) is offering pre-purchase HDB projects with a waiting time of less than three years to the nation by starting construction earlier.
