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Private home and HDB resale prices hit a new peak in Q4 2021; sales volumes in 2021 reached multi-year highs

Latest Property Real Estate News - Published on 28/01/2022

SINGAPORE, 28 January 2022 – The residential property market as whole finished 2021 strongly with prices touching new highs and sales volumes at their highest in years. The buoyant market has led the government to intervene with fresh cooling measures which came into effect from 16 December 2021.

Q4 2021 URA Private Residential Property Index
Overall private home prices climbed for the seventh straight quarter in Q4 2021, rising by 5.0% QOQ, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

The 5% QOQ price increase in Q4 2021 is the steepest rate of quarterly growth since Q2 2010 where private home values rose by 5.3% QOQ. With a PPI index reading of 173.6 in Q4 2021, the overall private home prices have hit a new peak. For the full-year 2021, overall private home prices rose by 10.6% - the highest annual price growth since 2010.

The Non-Landed private homes segment led the price increase in Q4 2021, rising by 5.3% QOQ - with home values strengthening across the Core Central Region (CCR), Rest of Central Region (RCR), and Outside Central Region (OCR).
Prices in the RCR rose the fastest in Q4 2021 at 6.7% QOQ likely spurred by new launches such as CanningHill Piers and Mori, as well as healthy sales at previously launched projects, including Normanton Park.

In the mass market or OCR, home values increased by 5.7% QOQ in Q4 2021, supported by demand from owner-occupiers, and dwindling stock of unsold homes in this segment.

Home prices in the CCR rose by 2.7% QOQ in Q4 2021 on the back of good response from buyers to projects, including Jervois Mansion, Leedon Green, The Avenir, and Fourth Avenue Residences amongst others.

Meanwhile, landed home values went up by 3.9% QOQ in Q4 2021, pushing the full-year price growth to 13.3% - boosted by strong demand for landed homes and Good Class Bungalows during the year.

Factoring the 3,018 new private homes (excluding ECs) transacted in Q4 2021, developers sold 13,027 new private homes in 2021 – up by 30.5% from 9,982 units sold in 2020 and booking the highest annual sales since 14,948 units were shifted in 2013. In the EC segment, 260 new units changed hands in Q4, taking the 2021 total to 2,119 EC units, representing a 121.2% YOY increase from 958 ECs sold in 2020.

Also topping 2020’s sales, 19,962 private homes were transacted in the resale market in 2021, inclusive of the 4,748 units sold in Q4 2021. This is higher than the 10,729 resale transactions in 2020 and marks the highest annual resale figure since 20,980 units were resold in 2007.

Developers launched 2,275 new homes (ex. ECs) for sale in Q4 2021 – up by 5.9% from 2,149 units put on the market in the previous quarter. For the whole of 2021, 10,496 new private homes (ex. ECs) were launched for sale, compared with 10,883 units rolled out in 2020.

Please attribute the comments below to Ms Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research and Content, PropNex Realty.
“The Singapore private residential market put in a superb showing in 2021, driven by ample liquidity in the system, low interest rates, optimism arising from the economic recovery, and healthy underlying demand for homes. In 2022, the pace of price growth is expected to ease to 3% to 5% by our forecast, due to cooling measures and the rising interest rate environment. Looking at Q1 2022, we anticipate both home sales and price movement to be muted, given the limited new launches and the Chinese New Year festivities.

Some factors that will lend support to private home prices in 2022 include attractive new launches that could hit the market (such as projects in Marina View, Northumberland Road, Slim Barracks Rise, Lentor Central, and Tanah Merah Kechil Link), the strong desire among Singaporeans to upgrade to a private home, as well as the positive economic outlook. In addition, the firm land prices that developers paid for sites, higher construction costs and the potential hike in GST may exert some upward pressure on home prices.

Furthermore, the unsold stock of new private homes has depleted rapidly to a record low of 14,154 units as at the end of Q4 2021 – the lowest unsold inventory since 15,085 in Q2 2017. The tight unsold supply will also help to support home values, particularly in the OCR where the unsold inventory has hit a new low at 3,972 units in Q4 2021.

Private home sales have been robust in 2021. This year, we project that transactions may taper to 9,000 to 10,000 for private new home sales and 15,000 to 16,000 for resale properties. We expect Singaporeans and HDB upgraders to continue to underpin housing demand in 2022.”

Q4 2021 HDB Resale Price Index
Data released by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) showed that resale prices of public housing flats rose by 3.4% QOQ in Q4 2021. With an index reading of 155.7 in Q4 2021, the HDB resale price index is now at an all-time high. For the whole of 2021, HDB resale prices surged by 12.7% - the highest annual growth since the 14.1% increase in 2010.

In Q4 2021, 7,940 flats were resold, taking the full year sales to 31,017 units – up by 25.3% from the 24,748 flats transacted in 2020.


Please attribute the comments below to Ms Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research and Content, PropNex Realty.
“The HDB resale market was vibrant in 2021, with sales volume and prices rising across both mature and non-mature towns. Despite the recent cooling measures and planned increased in new flat supply, we still expect the HDB resale market to continue to perform relatively well in 2022, driven by demand from Singaporean households and first-time home buyers, particularly those who do not wish to wait for up to 5 years for their new flat to be completed. PropNex projects that HDB resale prices could see a more moderate 6% to 8% increase this year, with resale volumes potentially coming in at around 30,000 flats.

The reduction in loan-to-value limit for HDB loans to 85% recently is unlikely to derail plans to purchase HDB resale flats among majority of the buyers. Many households who have ample savings or are able to get financial assistance from family members will not be affected. Meanwhile, the lowered total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) threshold to 55% will also not impact HDB resale buyers as they are already subjected to a stricter mortgage service ratio (MSR) of 30%.

Amidst the buoyant market, a record 259 HDB resale flats were transacted for at least $1 million in 2021, up sharply from 82 in the previous year. Based on transaction data, there are at least 24 such million-dollar HDB resale deals done in January 2022 thus far. We anticipate that the number of flats resold for at least $1 million could remain fairly high this year, with a bumper crop of more than 31,000 flats – including in popular estates such as Bukit Merah, Queenstown, and Toa Payoh - estimated to exit their 5-year Minimum Occupation Period in 2022. Some flat owners may decide to sell the flat upon MOP and upgrade to a private home.”