Condo rentals rose 0.9% in January

CCR rents saw the highest growth for the month.

Rentals of private apartments saw a 0.9% uptick in January from December 2019, according to a report by SRX. Rents grew 2.9% YoY for the month.

The month’s rentals were a 15.6% plunge from its highest rate in January 2013.

Orange Tee & Tie's head of research Christine Sun attributes the stronger rental prices on fewer private homes being completed last year and the removal of some stock to make way for new housing units.

Apartment rents in the Core Central Region (OCR) saw the highest growth MoM with a 1.4% jump. Rents in the Outside Central Region grew 0.7%, whilst Rents in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) inched up 0.6%.

On a YoY basis, rents in all regions increased. CCR rents expanded 3.7%, RCR rents rose 3%, whilst rents in the OCR saw an uptick of 2.2%.

In terms of volume, rentals posted a 4.9% slide MoM. An estimated 3,892 units were rented in January 2020 as compared to 4,094 units in December 2019. This was 7.5% lower than the 5-year average volume for the month of January.

The rising rental prices resulted in a lower rental volume, said Sun. Sun also sights the fall in rents was due to less condo viewing opportunities for renters as landlords were on leave amidst the Lunar New Year holidays.

“January is not the peak rental season as it usually occurs around the second and third quarters of the year,” added Sun.

Meanwhile, rental volumes were 22.5% lower YoY.

Breaking down by regions, 40.6% of the volume came from OCR in January. RCR accounted for 31.8% of volumes, whilst 27.6% of volumes came from CCR.

Sun forecasts that the slowdown of the MICE and hospitality sector amidst the coronavirus outbreak may curb hiring sentiment, which in turn could impact the leasing market temporarily. 

"However, leasing demand is seen to rebound when the situation stabilises, as seen during the last SARS epidemic,” noted Sun.