HDB RESALE PRICES COULD DROP 10%, SAY EXPERTS

HDB RESALE PRICES COULD DROP 10%, SAY EXPERTS
Feb 09, 2012

Prices of resale flats, which climbed significantly over the past five years, could finally slow down, said property experts.

“Public housing resale prices have gone up by over 80 percent in the last five years. People going in to pick up (units) at high prices expect such appreciation in the near future or next five years - it is definitely not likely,” said Mohamed Ismail, Chief Executive Officer of PropNex Realty.

Other experts noted that resale flat prices could drop by between three and five percent this year, and may fall as much as 10 percent if Singapore’s economy is affected by the worsening Eurozone debt crisis.

“Unless the economic situation changes, unless we see a lot more foreign direct investment coming in ... I think the HDB market will remain flat for the next one to three years,” noted Patrick Liew, CEO of HSR Property Group.

Around 25,000 new HDB flats will be launched for sale under the Build-To-Order (BTO) scheme this year, and more sites are expected to be released to develop executive condominium (EC) projects.

“We should be seeing a more sit-back-and-wait attitude from citizens. They will be expecting more flats to be built and they have more options to go for the BTOs and walk-in selections directly from HDB,” commented Shawn Tan, Managing Director of ECG Property.

Meanwhile, market players said the decline in resale prices will put pressure on cash-over-valuations (COV).

“The COV is already stabilised between S$30,000 and S$40,000. If there is any shift in government policy and with the continued increase in public housing prices, we are likely to see the COV amount go down further,” stressed Eugene Lim, Key Executive Officer at ERA.

He added that COVs fell to zero during the last economic downturn, with some homeowners selling their flats below valuation.
   
Info courtesy - PropertyGuru.com.sg