HDB resale flat prices dip for 6th straight month: SRX

As expected, HDB resale flat prices fell again for the sixth straight month to hit a low not seen since February 2012, going by figures from the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX).

Prices slipped 0.9 per cent last month, after a 0.8 per cent dip in June - proof that June's fall in prices was not due solely to the school holidays and the World Cup distracting buyers from making home purchases, analysts said. They believe larger factors were at play, chiefly the loan curbs in the form of the mortgage servicing ratio (MSR), the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR), and loan tenures being capped at 25 years.

Since the beginning of this year, prices have declined 4 per cent. Consultants expect resale prices to fall up to 8 per cent for the whole of 2014, with the government continuing to emphasise that it is still premature to pull back cooling measures.

The HDB resale market is expected to take a hit also because a huge supply of new build-to-order flats, as well as balance flats, executive condo units and flats under the design, build and sell scheme (DBSS) are coming onstream.

Resale volume improved by a slight 2 per cent to 1,341 flats sold in July's resale market, after the numbers contracted in May and June. Resale volumes are expected to shrink in August, during the "hungry ghost month", when fewer people would do house-hunting.

Rental volume rose 1.7 per cent to about 1,600 flats rented in July, possibly because some flat owners are waiting out the price weakness by renting their flats out in the meantime.