Rents for Housing Board flats as well as condominiums increased in November, despite a decrease in the volume during the festive season.
The rise in rents for condos was 0.2 percent from the prior month.
This was fueled by an 0.8 percent increase in the outlying central region (OCR) that more than compensated for the 0.6 percent decrease in the core central region (CCR) and a 0.1 percent drop in the central region (RCR).
The market’s growth in private rentals is predicted to last until 2025, with expected growth of between 2 and 4 percent. This recovery will be driven by improving macroeconomic conditions, greater jobs and an enlarging rental inventory.
The increase in month-to-month is the continuation of a recovery after a downtrend during the first half of 2024. This suggests a possible upward trend for condo rentals in 2025, supported by an improved economic outlook.
The increase in prices in November was “stable” and is attributed to lower pressure on landlords to lower rents.
The rents for private homes could remain the same in 2024 as compared to the previous year, due to a stronger demand due to the improving employment market.
The estimated number of units rented in November 2024 will be 5,010, which is a 12.3 percent drop from the 5,712 units that were rented in the month prior.
The OCR contributed 36.3 percent of total rental volume and was followed by 33.6 percent from RCR and 30.2 percent from CCR.
She was expecting a decrease in condo leases, considering that many expatriates have their vacations at the end of the year.
Some expatriates might opt to renew leases, or sign new leases in December, as they would want to buy a house before the new year starts. The SRX information shows that, in the past the December rental volume was more than the November rental in 2022 as well as 2023.
In a year-on-year comparison the prices for condominium rentals fell 1.3 percent because of lower prices across CCR (down 2.4 per cent), RCR (down 1.4 per cent) as well as OCR (down 1.5 percent) however, rental volumes were 0.8 per cent higher.
Rents for public housing in November increased by 0.4 per cent from the month before which was reflected in prices for mature estates rising by 0.2 per cent and non-mature estates increasing by 0.5 percent.
Four-room rents fueled this growth with a 1.3 percent rise, despite declines from five-room apartments (down 0.7 per cent) as well as executive flats (down 1 per cent) while three-room rentals remained constant.
HDB’s most recent increase in rental rates month-on-month led to an increase of 4 percent over the last year.
The rise is still less than the 10.1 percent rise in HDB rental rates in 2023.
HDB flats remain cheaper than condos, despite their price different.
The number of units that were leased by the public housing sector fell from 2,499 units to 2,155, a drop of 13,8%. The HDB’s November 2024 rental volume was also 18.3 percent lower than the 5-year average.
According to the type of flat, 32,7% of the total rental revenue came from three-roomers, 38,1 percent from four-roomers and 24,1% of five-roomers. Another 5.1 percent were from executive flats.
Year-on-year, HDB rents were 4.2 per cent higher than the prior year, while the rents were down by 20 percent. All types of rooms saw year-over-year prices, led by three-roomers (5.1 per cent) and four-roomers (4.1 percent).
Executive flats saw an increase of 3.6 percentage increase when compared to November 2023. Five-roomers increased by 2.8 percent..
He sees the indicators of a shift “from an occupant’s market to the landowner’s market”.
This is given stabilising the rates of rental for condominiums and their volumes along with gradual improvements in the HDB rental index.
In 2025 there will be less HDB flats that will have reached the minimum five-year occupancy period, and are (become qualified) available for rental in comparison to 2024. There would be less HDB flats on the rental market in 2025, and this could cause rental growth.