HDB resale prices jump 13.2% in July amidst ‘price bidding wars’ 

A total of 19 HDB flats were resold for at least $1m.

HDB resale prices rose 13.2% in July compared to the same month a year ago, according to data from SRX and 99.co. Resale prices are also 0.5% higher than in the month of June.

Year-on-year, prices for all room types increased last month: 3 Room by 14.9%, 4 Room by 12.6%, 5 Room by 12.2%, and Executive by 11.6%. Mature and non-mature estates prices increase by 11.9% and 14.3%, respectively, from a year ago.

Demand for HDB resale flats remained strong despite a tightening of community measures in the second half of July to break the chains of transmission among a growing number of COVID clusters, said Christine Sun, senior vice president of research and analytics, OrangeTee & Tie. 

Popular flats may sell at even higher prices with buyers willing to engage in “price bidding wars” to secure a unit.

“Based on-ground observation, some popular flats that have received multiple offers may be able to sell their units at higher prices. This is because 'price bidding wars' could be observed sometimes where keen buyers may make slightly higher offers to secure units,” Sun said.

“Some buyers may not mind paying slightly more to secure a unit now as they may feel that competition could continue to intensify given the limited housing stock. Moreover, they are not waiting further since prices of flats are not likely to fall in the near future since our economy is recovering,” she added.

Compared to June, 3 Room, and 5 Room prices edged up by 0.9%, respectively, whilst 4 Room prices rose by 0.7%. In contrast, executive prices dropped by 0.6%.

Volume-wise, a total of 2,662 HDB resale transactions were logged in July 2021, the highest number of resale transactions in the past 12 months. This is also a 15.2% increase from June 2021 and 7.8% higher compared to July 2020. 

By room types, 41.4% of the volume came from HDB 4 Room, 27.6% from 5 Room, 21.9% from 3 Room, and 7.8% from Executive. The rest are from 1 Room, 2 Room, and Multi-Gen flats.

The highest transacted price for a resale flat was achieved by a 5 Room unit at The Pinnacle@Duxton, which sold at $1.225m.

In non-mature estates, the highest transacted price is a 5 Room DBSS unit at Parkland Residences, at $880,000.

There were 19 HDB flats resold for at least a million dollars in July, the same number as the previous month. They comprised about 0.7% of the total resale volume for July.

More HDB flats have sold for over a million dollars so far in 2021 compared to 2020. A total of 125 HDB flats have been resold for the first seven months of the year, 278.8% higher than the first seven months of 2020.