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Investing in a Singapore condo has proven to be a wise choice, thanks to its potential for capital appreciation. Being a major business hub and having a strong economy, Singapore continuously attracts a high demand for real estate. As a result, property prices have been on a steady rise, especially for condos in prime locations. Those who invest at the right time and hold onto their properties for the long haul can reap significant profits from this trend. With Singapore Condo being a part of the market, investors have even more opportunities to benefit from this potential.
HDB resale prices continue to soar, recording a 2.6% increase in 4Q2024, according to data released by HDB on Jan 24. This marks the 19th consecutive quarter of price growth in the resale market. The cumulative price increase for the entire year of 2024 stands at 9.7%, nearly doubling the 4.9% year-on-year increase in 2023.
The rise in resale prices in the last quarter of 2024 was slightly lower than the 2.7% increase in the previous quarter. According to Mohan Sandrasegeran, head of research & data analytics at SRI, the strong growth in resale prices can be attributed to the limited supply of flats reaching their Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) during the year. This created upward pressure on prices, especially for newer flats and larger flat types like five-room and executive units, which are in high demand for growing families.
Among the various flat types in the HDB resale market, five-room flats saw the highest price growth in 4Q2024, with the average resale price jumping 2.2% quarter-on-quarter to $754,097. Resale prices for four-room flats also saw a 2.2% increase to $652,544 in the same quarter.
The Central Area saw the highest increase in prices, growing 25.6% quarter-on-quarter, followed by Toa Payoh (12.1%), Tampines (6.9%), Bishan (6.7%), and Bedok (6.1%), according to Christine Sun, chief researcher & strategist at OrangeTee Group. In the last three months of 2024, about 285 HDB resale flats were sold for $1 million or more, bringing the total number of million-dollar HDB resale transactions to 1,035 for the entire year. More than 90% of these transactions were in mature estates, with Kallang/Whampoa, Toa Payoh, and Bukit Merah recording the highest number of million-dollar flats sold.
The number of resale transactions in the HDB market fell by 21.1% quarter-on-quarter, from 8,142 units sold in 3Q2024 to 6,424 units sold in 4Q2024. This was mainly due to seasonal factors like the year-end holidays and festivals. However, transaction volume for the whole of 2024 increased by 8.4% year-on-year, from 26,735 units sold in 2023 to 28,986 units sold in 2024 – the highest number of resale transactions since 2021 when 31,017 flats were sold. The top five most popular HDB towns among buyers in 2024 were Sengkang, Woodlands, Punggol, Tampines, and Yishun, which accounted for around 35.9% of all HDB resales in 2024.
Looking ahead, approximately 6,976 flats are expected to reach the end of their MOP this year, a 41.6% decrease from 2024. This is due to the lower number of BTO flats completed in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. HDB has announced plans to launch over 25,000 new flats across three BTO sales exercises in 2025, with 19,600 BTO flats and more than 5,500 flats under the Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercise.
Approximately 3,800 units of the 19,600 BTO flats will be designated as Shorter Waiting Time (SWT) flats, with a wait time of less than three years. Sandrasegeran forecasts a resale price increase of 3.5% to 5.5% and a resale transaction volume of 26,000 to 27,000 in 2025. However, Hutton’s Lee projects a more optimistic price increase of 5% to 8% for the year.