We’re going down: HDB prices slide to a 2-year low in May

Current buyers are paying $20,000 less.

Majority of Singaporeans paid less for their houses in May, as HDB resale prices reached a 2-year low since April 2012.

A report by the Singapore Real Estate Exchange revealed that twenty out of twenty-six towns recorded a negative median Transaction Over X-Value (TOX) in May. The TOX is used to measure whether people are underpaying or overpaying for their houses compared to previous buyers.

“This means that majority of the buyers in these towns have purchased their units below what other buyers who came before them paid for in similar units,” noted the report.

Among HDB towns with more than 10 transactions, the lowest median TOX are in Chao Chu Kang, Bukit Merah, Punggol and Pasir Ris, at negative $20,000, negative $15,456, negative $14,000 and negative $10,000 respectively.

Bucking the downward pressure on prices are Queenstown, Clementi and Jurong East with positive median TOXs of $6,500, $1,000 and $1,000, respectively.

The average TOX for HDB towns stands at negative $4000, the same value as in April 2014. Prices have declined by 6.5% since reaching peak prices in April 2013. Prices have declined 2.7% since the beginning of this year..