Rents for Singapore's non-landed private homes, HDB flats drop in February

Rental prices for Singapore's non-landed private homes declined 0.7 percent in February month-on-month while rents for public housing units built by Housing Development Board (HDB) fell 0.9 percent over the same period, said Singapore Real Estate Property (SRX) in its latest flash report on Wednesday.

SRX's data showed that private rents in the city fringe and suburban areas fell by 1.8 percent and 1.3 percent respectively in February when compared with the previous month, while rents for units in downtown area rose by 1.3 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, rents for private homes in February were down by 5 percent. It's a 15.2 percent off the peak in January 2013, according to the report.

The number of private leases signed fell 17.5 percent to an estimated 2,797 units in February compared with 3,389 in January. While on a year-on-year basis, rental volume in February was 0.5 percent higher than the 2,784 units rented in February 2015.

As for the HDB market, rents overall are down by 3.7 percent year-on-year and 9.1 percent lower than its peak in August 2013.

Rents for three-room and five-room HDB flats and executive flats posted 0.6 percent, 1.8 percent and 0.9 percent declines respectively. While rents for 4-room flats inched up by 0.1 percent.

Rental volume for HDB flats also decreased to an estimated 1,371 units leased in February, a 20.1 percent fall from 1,715 in January. On a year-on-year basis, rental volume in February was down 11.3 percent compared with the same period last year.

About 80 percent of the resident population in Singapore live in units built by HDB and sold to eligible households. The public housing market is more tightly regulated than the private one. Endit