Thailand
Singaprore: HDB rents up 0.7% in May, condominium rents rise 0.3%: SRX
RENTS for condominiums increased 0.3 per cent in May 2021 from the previous month, while that of Housing Development Board (HDB) flats rose 0.7 per cent in the same period.
This marks the fifth and eleventh consecutive month of rising condo and HDB rents respectively, according to Wednesday’s SRX flash estimates.
According to Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analysis at OrangeTee & Tie, the market “remained robust” despite fewer foreigners entering Singapore, as tenants continued to renew their leases.
She said landlords may want to take advantage of recovering private resale prices by selling their flats, which means affected tenants will have to look for new accommodation.
More Singaporeans are also renting temporarily as some homeowners did not wait to find a replacement home before selling their flats as they wish to capitalise on rising resale prices, added Ms Sun.
Condominium rents increased by 7.3 per cent year-on-year (yoy), but are still down 11.4 per cent from their peak in January 2013.
This was led by a 9.7 per cent rise in the outside central region (OCR), followed by a 6.1 per cent increase in the rest of central region (RCR), and 5.1 per cent growth in the core central region (CCR).
Compared to April 2021, CCR and OCR rents gained 1.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively, while RCR rents fell 0.6 per cent.
The month also saw a 1.7 per cent increase in volume to an estimated 4,603 units in May, compared to 4,527 units in April.
This is 39.3 per cent higher than rental volume from a year ago, and 0.1 per cent higher than the five-year average volume for the month of May.
According to Lee Sze Teck, director of research at Huttons Asia, this number was capped by Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) restrictions, which limited the number of visitors per showflat.
“Otherwise, rental volume for condos in the month of May will be even higher,” he said.
SRX data showed volumes were led by OCR with 41.2 per cent, followed by 30.7 per cent from RCR, and 28 per cent from CCR.
HDB rents increased by 7.9 per cent y-o-y, although this is still 9.2 per cent down from their peak in August 2013.
Rents in mature and non-mature estates climbed 7.2 per cent and 8.6 per cent respectively. All room types recorded rent increases – three-room by 7.3 per cent, four-room by 9.1 per cent, five-room by 7.2 per cent, and executive flats by 4.9 per cent.
That being said, HDB rental volumes declined by 0.9 per cent to an estimated 1,686 units, compared to 1,702 flats from the month before.
This is 8.5 per cent lower than the five-year average volume for the month of May, but 30.4 per cent higher than the rental volume in May 2020.
Some 36.8 per cent of the month’s rental volume came from four-room apartments, 31.4 per cent from three-room, 24.8 per cent from five-room, and 7 per cent from executive flats.
Nicholas Mak, head of research and consultancy at ERA, said that while rental volumes remained “largely unchanged”, resale volumes of both HDB flats and condos took a dip in May from a month ago.
He noted that HDB resale transactions dropped 16 per cent while that of condos fell 11.4 per cent last month.
According to Mr Mak, this was because of the shorter commitment period and smaller financial outlay of renting a property, as compared to purchasing one.
“Therefore, relatively more tenants are willing to seal rental transactions remotely, compared to property acquisitions, especially for certain popular locations,” he said.
Source: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/hdb-rents-up-07-in-may-condominium-rents-rise-03-srx