Singapore's public housing resale hits 2-yr high

Resale market of Singapore's public housing units showed signs of recovery in June, with the volume of Housing and Development Board (HDB) units sold reaching a two-year high and prices inching up by 0.1 percent compared with the previous month, Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX Property) said on Thursday.

The resale volume in June was the highest since May 2013, SRX Property said. A total of 1,709 HDB resale flats were sold in June, which is an increase of 8.5 percent compared with transaction in the previous month and a 30 percent increase from 1,315 units resold in June 2014.

Resale prices rose 0.1 percent in June compared with the previous month, driven by price increase in bigger HDB flats. Resale prices of four-room, five-room and executive flats rose by 0.3 percent, 0.5 percent and 0.7 percent respectively. In contrast, resale prices of three-room flats fell 0.2 percent.

However, resale prices have dropped 4.4 percent from June 2014 on a year-on-year basis, SRX Property said. Resale prices have declined 10.9 percent since the peak in April 2013.

According to SRX Property, HDB resale market sentiment turned positive in June, and eased the downward pressure on resale prices. The overall median Transaction Over X-Value (TOX) for HDB, which measures whether people are overpaying or underpaying SRX Property 's estimated market value, improved from negative 2,000 Singapore dollars in May to positive 1,000 Singapore dollars last month.

About 80 percent of the resident population in Singapore live in high-rise flats built by the Housing and Development Board and sold to local households under the basic principle of one unit per household. Endi