Condo, HDB rents dip whilst volumes rebound in June

Rental renewals are attributed to expats not being able to return to their home countries just yet.

Condo rents slipped 0.7% YoY in June, as two of the regions posted declines, according to figures from SRX.

Rents in the Core Central Region (CCR) and the Rest of Central Region (RCR) fell 0.7% YoY and 2.2% YoY respectively, whilst Outside Central Region (OCR) rents inched up 0.3%. The overall rents are down 18% from the peak in January 2013.

“Whilst rents have declined by 0.6% MoM and 0.7% YoY, the decrease is considered marginal. For instance, for an average monthly rental of between $3,000 and 5,000, the MoM decrease amounts to only $18-30 (e.g. $3000 x 0.6%=$18). Therefore, based on our ground observation, rents are still rather resilient in many areas since demand seems to be higher than supply given that there are now more people renewing their contracts or renting new apartments in recent months),” said Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie.

Meanwhile, condo volumes surged 54.4% MoM in June to 4,473 units, but is still 13% YoY lower. Breaking down by regions, 41.2% of the total volumes are from OCR, 32.6% from RCR and 26.2% from CCR.

“The increase could be attributed to more rental renewals as many expats are not able to return to their home countries or travel to another city for their next work assignments due to the global lockdowns or travel restrictions imposed in many countries. Some employers are also seeking longer-term housing arrangements for their workers who were commuting daily from Malaysia but are unable to do so as a result of the border lockdowns,” Sun commented.

As for HDB flats, rents dipped 2% YoY in June as rents for both mature estates and non-mature estates went down 2.3% and 1.5% YoY, respectively. All room types also posted rent decreases year-over-year. Three-room rents slipped 1.5%, four-room by 1.7%, five-room by 2.9% and executive room by 0.9%. Overall HDB rents fell 16.1% from the peak in August 2013.

Sun noted that the dip in HDB flats is considered marginal as well.

On the other hand, HDB rental volumes jumped 55.7% MoM and slipped 6.6% YoY to around 1,869 HDB flats. About 35.3% of the total volumes are from four-room, 33.9% from three-room, 25.4% from five-room and 5.4% from executive room.

“In recent weeks, we have also observed more Singaporeans, especially singles, renting an apartment. For these young people, it could be more viable to rent an apartment since they may not be eligible to buy an HDB resale flat or afford a private condo now,” Sun added.