Condo rents up 1.3% MoM in October

HDB rents, meanwhile, also increased by 0.2%.

Singapore condo rents were up by 1.3% month-on-month (MoM) in October 2021, 99.co reported.

Year on year (YoY), an increase of 9.1% was seen. Core Central Region (CCR), Rest of Central Region (RCR), and Outside Central Region (OCR) increased by 8.4%, 8.7%, and 9.9%.

Volumes increased by 10.1%, month on month, with an estimated 4,561 units being rented in October 2021. This is when compared to last month’s 4,225 units. 

YoY, rental volumes were 1.6% lower. Volumes, meanwhile, were 5% higher than the five-year average volume for the month of October. 36.5% of total volumes were from OCR, whilst RCR and CCR were from 32.9% and 30.6%, respectively. 

On the other hand, HDB rents saw an increase of 0.2% MoM in October. Mature and non-mature rents both also increased by 0.2%. 3 Room, 5 Room, and Executive rents also followed the same sentiment with 1.1%, 0.2%, and 0.6% increases, respectively. 4 Room rents, however, decreased by 0.1%.

YoY, overall rents increased by 8.3%, whilst mature and non-mature estates increased by 7.3% and 9.3%, YoY. All room types also saw rent increases on a YoY basis—3 Room (8%), 4 Room (8%), 5 Room (9%), and Executive (7.7%). 

Overall, HDB volumes increased by 8.2% m-o-m, with around 1,751 HDB flats being rented in October 2021. This is compared to 1,619 units in September 2021. 

YoY, rental volumes had a decrease by 1.1%. Volumes were also 7.4% lower than the five-year average volume for the month of October. 

36.9% of the total volumes were from 4 Room; 36.8% from 3 Room; with 5 Room and Executive having volumes of 20.9% and 5.4%, respectively. 

Christine Sun, Senior Vice President of Research & Analytics, attributed this performance to the reopening of borders and more Vaccinated Travel Lanes. The return of Singaporeans, permanent residents and foreigners have also spurred this performance, with even more choices to rent after selling their private properties in recent months. 

According to Sun, certain sectors like aviation, MICE, hospitality and tourism are also expected to ramp up hiring as Singapore pushes the re-opening of its borders.

Compared to the previous peak in January 2013, the condo rents record was lower by 9.1%. For the HDB, rents were also down 6.4% from the peak in August 2013.