All-time high: Rent for this 4-room HDB flat hits record $6,200

How much would you be willing to pay to rent a 4-room HDB flat? 

Well, one deep-pocketed homeowner evidently thought nothing of coughing up a cool $6,200 for one located in Tiong Bahru, according to a check on HDB's website. 

And what's more, this HDB unit is located in an old block that's about 74 years old, completed way back in 1949.

This unit at Blk 17 Seng Poh Road was rented out in December, breaking the HDB flat rental record last year, reported Shin Min Daily News. 

This comes as rents for HDB and condo continue to climb in December, marking the 30th straight month of growth for HDB rents, reported the Straits Times on Wednesday (Feb 1).

Overall in 2022, HDB rents went up by 28.5 per cent while condo rental prices increased by 34.4 per cent. 

The norm for that estate

Property agent Alvin Yeo, who brokered this deal, told AsiaOne that while the $6,200 rental figure may seem hefty for an HDB unit, it's actually the norm for that estate. 

He said that he rented out an even smaller 3-room HDB flat located along nearby Lim Liak Street for a high $6,200 in December.

That unit, at 947 sq ft big, is smaller than the unit at Blk 17 Seng Poh Road. 

The 4-room Seng Poh Road unit is about 1,200 sq ft, sizeable by today's standards considering that a typical 4-room HDB unit is about 1,000 sq ft big. 

A quick search on PropertyGuru show that the market rental rates for condos located near Tiong Bahru of about 1,200 sq ft big are around $5,500 to $9,000.  And all these comes with condo facilities. 

"When tenants can't find any [privatised properties], they usually don't mind checking out the HDB side," Yeo said.

"For tenants, they really can't differentiate whether this HDB is privatised or not, they just see it as Tiong Bahru."

He shared that rentals in that estate have certainly increased from pre-Covid times, where the HDB flats were typically rented out for around $4,000 to $4,500 then, said Yeo, who specialises in both public and private properties in Tiong Bahru estate.

HDB rents expected to grow further

The unit at Seng Poh Road is one of a number of 4-room flats in Singapore commanding a rental price of $6,000, with two at Pinnacle@Duxton and one at Jalan Tenteram in Whampoa.

Over the past two months, the number of 4-room HDB flats with rents over $4,000 islandwide have doubled, experts told the Chinese daily in an interview.  

And in Toa Payoh alone, these numbers have quadrupled. 

As of Jan 29, there were some 223 4-room units rented out for at least $4,000 or more in the months of December and January, compared with 114 units in October and November last year.

OrangeTee & Tie’s senior vice-president of research and analytics Christine Sun said she expects HDB rents to grow by between 15 per cent and 18 per cent this year. 

This is partly because some HDB flat owners may be taking their time to consider a home upgrade given the uncertain economic outlook in 2023 amid rising interest rates.

And as a result, there may be fewer flats put up for rent. 

ALSO READ: 'Who will bite?' 5-room HDB flat in Queenstown asking for $6,500 rent

melissateo@asiaone.com

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