16 HDB estates see quarterly price increases in 4Q2022, prices of flats in Bukit Timah climb 24% q-o-q: OrangeTee & Tie

HDB Resale PricesRegistering a 10.4% year-on-year increase for the whole of 2022, HDB resale prices grew at a moderate rate despite the combined effects of property cooling measures and higher interest rates and the 2.3% q-o-q decline in 4Q2022. Eighteen towns reported a positive increase of 0.4%-24% q-o-q, while the remaining eight towns experienced a decline of 0.3%-6.5%.

The release of the 4Q2022 public housing statistics on Jan 27 provided insight into HDB resale prices for the last quarter. With the combined effects of property cooling measures and higher interest rates, overall resale flat prices decreased 2.3% q-o-q in 4Q2022.

However, the slowdown in price growth was not uniform across the various estates. According to OrangeTee & Tie, eighteen out of the twenty-six HDB towns saw an increase in average prices of 0.4%-24%, while the remaining eight towns experienced a decline of 0.3%-6.5%. Bukit Timah recorded the highest quarterly increase at 24%, followed Senja Close EC by the Central Area at 11.6%, Geylang at 6.4% and Bukit Merah at 3.8%.

Similarly, some HDB towns also reported less than 1% increase for 4Q2022, such as Marine Parade, Jurong West, Choa Chu Kang, Clementi, Yishun and Bukit Batok. At the same time, Serangoon and Jurong East recorded the highest q-o-q price decline of 6.5%, followed by Toa Payoh at 6.0% and Queenstown at 5.0%.

Property market analysts expect HDB resale prices to remain moderate this year, increasing at a slower pace of 5%–8% in FY2023. Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, believes this is due to the continued property cooling measures and consistently high cost of living.

In 4Q2022, the mature estates that saw the most number of resale transactions were Tampines (435 units), Bedok (295 units), Ang Mo Kio (217 units), Kallang/Whampoa (204 units) and Toa Payoh (200 units). The non-mature estates with the most sales were Woodlands (559 units), Punggol (502 units), Sengkang (498 units), Yishun (463 units) and Jurong West (412 units).

The highest average resale flat price was recorded in Bukit Timah at $855,231 last quarter. Despite the overall decline in prices, the HDB resale market is expected to remain tight in the coming years. In the meantime, private home prices had inched up by 0.4% in 4Q2022, while retail rents had decreased further in the same period.