HDB resale prices down 1.8% in May

Resale volume also fell 11.7% to 1,753 units.

The resale prices of HDB flats in May dipped 1.8% from last year and 0.5% from last month, SRX Property revealed. The resale prices of HDB 4 Rooms, HDB 5 Rooms, and HDB Executive increased by 0.1%, 0.5%, and 1.5% respectively, whilst HDB 3 Rooms decreased by 0.1%.

According to flash data, HDB resale prices for mature estates went up by 1.3%, whilst prices in non-mature estates were down 0.1%. On a yearly basis, prices for mature estates dipped 1.3%, whilst prices for non-mature estates dipped 2.2%.

SRX Property does not track prices for HDB 1 rooms as transaction volumes for this public housing segment are "extremely low."

Meanwhile, 1,753 HDB resale flats were sold in May 2018, down 5.3% decrease from 1,851 transacted units in April and down 11.7% from 1,985 units last year. Resale volume was down by more than half (52%) compared to its peak of 3,649 units in May 2010.

SRX Property also revealed that majority of flats were not paid for above or below their estimated market value, as the overall median Transaction Over X-Value (T-O-X) was ZERO.

Median T-O-X for HDB 3 Room, 4 Room, 5 Room, and Executive flats were NEGATIVE $4,000, ZERO, POSITIVE $1,000, and POSITIVE $2,000 respectively.

However, majority of the buyers in Bishan and Tampines paid for the flats by $12,000 above their market value, whilst those in Sembawang paid $6,000 higher than the market value.

Hougang posts the most negative median T-O-X. Amongst HDB towns having more than 10 resale transactions with T-O-X in May 2018, the lowest median T-O-X was in Hougang at NEGATIVE $11,500, followed by Serangoon at NEGATIVE $8,000.

"This suggests that majority of the buyers in these towns have purchased units below the computer-generated market value," SRX Property said.