More HDB resale flats sold at close to $1 million mark

A new record has been set for Housing Board resale flats, with a 1,750 sq ft executive maisonette in Bishan changing hands for $1.01 million last month. It broke the previous record of $1 million, set by a 1,615 sq ft executive apartment in Queenstown last year.

Fresh data from the Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX), which collects transaction information from larger property firms, also revealed that such sky-high prices are not one-offs.


While only one resale flat transaction breached the $900,000 mark in 2011, there were 18 last year. This year, even before two months have gone, the number has already reached 18.

Property analysts said these flats, mostly in established estates, are still value for money on a per sq ft (psf) basis when compared to private homes.

They expect resale records to be broken when choice units like those at the Pinnacle@Duxton hit the market in the next two years.

The price of the 26-year-old unit on the upper floors of Block 194 in Bishan Street 13 is about $580 psf. A private property in the same area could cost between $1,200 and $1,600 psf.

According to the SRX, the overall median cash paid above a flat's valuation is now about $34,000.

Among the 18 transactions above $900,000 this year is a five-year-old, 1,180 sq ft, five-room flat in Jalan Membina.

The $925,000 price tag works out to be about $780 psf.

Most home buyers said they would not pay that much for public housing.

In response to the surging property market, the Government has pledged to offer at least 23,000 new flats this year, with National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan promising to keep new flats affordable by unpegging their prices from resale flats.

In the latest Build-To-Order launch last month, prices ranged from $140,000 for a three-room unit in Chua Chu Kang to $575,000 for a five-room unit in Ang Mo Kio.

Source: The Straits Times –21 February 2013