BTO Release Leads to a Dip in Resale Market | Ohmyhome Insights

Every month, the Housing Development Board (HDB) releases a comprehensive database of resale transaction information on Data.gov.sg. Ohmyhome analyses this huge chunk of data and picks out the most relevant points and trends for readers.  

A total of 2,156 resale flats were transacted in the month of May as compared to the 2,273 flats transacted in April. This was a marginal 5.1% (month-on-month) decline. It is likely the launch of Build-To-Order (BTO) flats in May, lead to interest from buyers shifting away from the resale market. 

12 out of 26 towns saw an increase in average resale prices 

Comparing the average prices between April and May, we observed that only 12 out 26 towns had a surge in prices. For comparison, there were a total of 16 towns with price increases observed in March. It is likely price resistance is setting in. 

The highest price increase for the month was in the Bukit Timah Area. With a 22.7% rise observed in the area. This is due to a lower number of transactions, leading to a push in the overall price points in the area. 

Highest number of million dollar deals in May

The month of May saw the highest number of million dollar deals recorded in a single month for this year. A total of 135 million dollar transactions have been recorded for the first 5 months of this year. This is on track to exceed last year’s number of million dollar transactions. 

Highest million dollar deal recorded at City Vue @ Henderson 

A 5 room flat at City Vue @ Henderson was transacted at a price of $1.4 million ($1,151 psf). This is the highest recorded HDB million dollar deal ever. Two of the million dollar transactions at City Vue @ Henderson were at higher floors as well. 

City Vue @ Henderson was a Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) replacement project. The prospects of potential unblocked views at higher floors have led to more interest in the development.  

It is worth noting that there were three million dollar deals in the non-mature estates. Namely Woodlands and Yishun. 

Factors such as location, higher floors, bigger sized flats, and newer flats with longer lease balances play a pivotal role in influencing the overall resale prices of flats.  

Although the prevalence of such high value transactions is lower in non-mature estates, in the long run, when amenities and transport nodes are progressively developed, we could see more competitive prices in such non-mature estates. 

Outlook  

Preliminary figures from data.gov.sg indicate that there have already been nine million-dollar deals for the month of June. 

It is likely the month of June, might see a drop in the number of HDB resale transactions. As the Build-To-Order (BTO) and Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercises commenced towards the end of May. The application period lasted for about a week and ended on 2 June.  The exercise saw a higher rate of applications for both offerings of flats. 

There was an overwhelming response for the BTO and SBF flats that were offered. A total of 26,683 applications were submitted for the 4,583 BTO flats that were offered. A total of 24,518 applications were submitted for the 1,952 SBF flats that were offered. 

Furthermore, out of the 1,952 balance flats in the SBF exercise, there were about 34% completed flats in the mix. This is a relatively high number of flats completed in the SBF exercise as compared to the 31% of flats that were completed in February SBF exercise as well. This could have likely swayed the interest of buyers away from the resale market as well.

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