HDB resale prices rise 4.8% in 2023, slower than 10.4% increase recorded in 2022

SINGAPORE — Prices of Housing Board resale flats rose by 4.8 per cent in 2023, slower than the 10.4 per cent increase recorded in 2022. In 2021, prices surged by 12.7 per cent.

In the last three months of 2023, prices rose by one per cent, flash estimates from HDB showed on Tuesday (Jan 2).

This marks the 15th consecutive quarter of price increases since the second quarter of 2020.

Even so, resale prices increased at a slower pace in the fourth quarter of 2023 than in the third quarter, when prices were up by 1.3 per cent.

HDB noted that the price growth in the last quarter of 2023 was lower than the average quarterly growth of 2.5 per cent in 2022.

Fewer HDB resale flats were sold in the fourth quarter of 2023, with the number falling by 2.3 per cent to an estimated 6,440 units, from 6,592 units in the third quarter as at Sept 28.

It is also the lowest volume lodged in the fourth quarter, compared with the same period from 2020 to 2022.

In all, 26,628 resale flats changed hands in 2023 as at Dec 28, 3.8 per cent lower than the 27,686 flats in 2022.

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HDB launched a total of 22,780 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats for sale in 2023.

It added that median application rates among first-time applicants for three-room and larger BTO flats have been moderating.

The rate in October's sales exercise was 0.9 and, in December, it was 0.8, meaning that all first-time applicants are set to get a chance to select a unit.

These are significantly lower than application rates during the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022, which ranged from 2 to 6.8, HDB noted.

HDB previously said it will launch nearly 4,100 flats in Bedok, Queenstown, Choa Chu Kang, Hougang, Punggol and Woodlands in the next BTO sales exercise in February.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.