Here's how much the cheapest condos and HDBs have risen in price since 2020

With private home and resale flat prices rising across the board, is a cheap home even possible in 2022? It’s a tough year for first-time home buyers, and even HDB upgraders have been slowly starting to be priced out.

Here’s a look at how much some of the cheapest properties in Singapore have increased in prices in the past two years (we examined prices in the resale market for both private and HDB flats):

Price increases of the lowest-priced properties since H1 2020 (Private)

This is a list of the cheapest private developments, and their price movements, since H1 2020, based on available URA data. 

Source: URA

The above includes all transactions (new, resale, and sub sale) except en-bloc transactions. We used the average price psf for each project, as reflected for each half of the year; projects without any transactions in 1H 2020 were left out, as we can’t compare them to the present.

Some observations on projects with the biggest price increases:

It’s perhaps not a surprise to see four Executive Condominiums in this list given how condo prices have moved in the past two years. As such, demand has moved to resale ECs, with a profit analysis by OrangeTee showing that a sample size of 4,266 ECs has grossed around $300,000 in profits. The study also showed that the median prices of resale ECs have increased by 30.3 per cent to $1,115 psf in the first eight months of 2022, as compared to $856 in 2019.

Northoaks used to be one of the more affordable options in H1 2020 as well at $554 psf registered the second highest increase to $794 psf in H2 2022. There were a healthy number of transactions too, with six in the first half of 2020, and seven in the second half of 2022 so far.

Of the more affordable condos, the highest price increase goes to Clover By The Park. This has increased from an average of $1,154 psf in H1 2020 to a high of $1,627 psf in H2 2022 (so far).

Some observations on projects with falling prices:

The projects that saw the most notable price decreases (on a psf basis) were:

• Suites 28 – down 36.32 per cent
• Sandy Island (detached housing) – down 32.5 per cent
• Prestige Heights – down 26.4 per cent
• Cairnhill Nine – down 22.57 per cent
• Nanyang Park (semi-detached housing) – down 19.62 per cent

Projects	Type	2020-H1	2020-H1 Vol.	2022-H2	2022-H2 Vol	$PSF Decrease
SUITES 28	Apartment	$1,261	1	$803	1	-36.3 per cent	Suites 28
THE BEVERLY	Apartment	$1,335	1	$880	1	-34.1 per cent	The Beverly
SANDY ISLAND	Detached House	$2,044	1	$1,389	1	-32.0 per cent	Sandy Island
IRIDIUM	Apartment	$1,725	1	$1,224	1	-29.0 per cent	Iridium
PRESTIGE HEIGHTS	Apartment	$1,708	1	$1,257	2	-26.4 per cent	Prestige Heights
CAIRNHILL NINE	Apartment	$2,650	1	$2,052	1	-22.6 per cent	Cairnhill Nine
MI CASA	Condominium	$898	5	$710	1	-20.9 per cent	Mi Casa
NANYANG PARK	Terrace House	$1,262	2	$1,014	2	-19.6 per cent	Nanyang Park
PARRY GREEN	Terrace House	$993	2	$813	1	-18.1 per cent	Parry Green
SCOTTS HIGHPARK	Condominium	$2,033	2	$1,734	1	-14.7 per cent	Scotts Highpark
SKYSUITES@ANSON	Apartment	$2,459	1	$2,103	10	-14.5 per cent	Skysuites@Anson
THE RED HOUSE	Apartment	$1,456	1	$1,253	1	-13.9 per cent	The Red House
THE VIRIDIAN	Apartment	$1,564	1	$1,346	1	-13.9 per cent	The Viridian
THE CLAYMORE	Condominium	$3,456	1	$3,097	1	-10.4 per cent	The Claymore
SEASCAPE	Condominium	$2,047	1	$1,862	2	-9.0 per cent	Seascape
TROPIKA EAST	Condominium	$1,418	2	$1,297	2	-8.5 per cent	Tropika East
TRE RESIDENCES	Condominium	$1,715	1	$1,588	9	-7.4 per cent	Tre Residences
WALLICH RESIDENCE	Apartment	$3,743	5	$3,470	6	-7.3 per cent	Wallich Residence
CONCOURSE SKYLINE	Apartment	$1,987	4	$1,859	5	-6.4 per cent	Concourse Skyline
V ON SHENTON	Apartment	$2,332	9	$2,183	5	-6.4 per cent	V On Shenton

Source: URA

Unfortunately, these steep drops won’t help the average buyer. What these disparate projects have in common is a high quantum; beyond what your average Singaporean could afford. 

Suites 28, Prestige Heights, and Sandy Island are pricey city fringe projects; they are in Districts 14, 12, and 4 respectively. Cairnhill Nine is a Core Central Region project (District 9), and Nanyang Park may be a fringe region (District 19), but it’s a pricier semi-detached project. 

Also, take note that all these projects have small unit counts. Cairnhill Nine is the largest, with just 268 units. Smaller projects are, as always, on the pricier end. 

ALSO READ: Almost half of those who own both HDB flats and private homes are renting out their flats: Desmond Lee

A family-sized 969 sq. ft. unit at Cairnhill Nine, transacts at as high as $1.98 million; while Sandy Island’s detached housing recently transacted at prices of $10.8 million. Even Nanyang Park, in a fringe region, saw recent transactions of around $3.6 million for semi-detached units. 

It seems even in the hottest market, high quantum units have more limited room for appreciation, and many of these properties remain a homeowners’ indulgence rather than an investment asset. 

Price increases of the lowest-priced properties since H1 2020 (HDB)

Address	Type	2020-H1 PSF	2022-H2 PSF	2022-H2
303 YISHUN CTRL	3 Room	$276	$474	71.5 per cent
26 TOA PAYOH EAST	3 Room	$260	$439	68.8 per cent
204 MARSILING DR	3 Room	$287	$433	51.0 per cent
32 MARSILING DR	3 Room	$269	$405	50.3 per cent
1 MARSILING DR	3 Room	$274	$411	49.8 per cent
24 MARSILING DR	3 Room	$277	$413	49.0 per cent
23 MARSILING DR	3 Room	$284	$415	45.9 per cent
22 MARSILING DR	3 Room	$284	$404	42.2 per cent
114 HO CHING RD	3 Room	$288	$379	31.6 per cent
33 TEBAN GDNS RD	3 Room	$269	$338	25.6 per cent
27 MARSILING DR	4 Room	$245	$403	64.6 per cent
304 JURONG EAST ST 32	4 Room	$257	$419	63.2 per cent
389 YISHUN AVE 6	4 Room	$268	$425	58.5 per cent
395 YISHUN RING RD	4 Room	$268	$424	58.3 per cent
851 JURONG WEST ST 81	4 Room	$267	$383	43.5 per cent
723 JURONG WEST AVE 5	4 Room	$268	$384	43.3 per cent
114 YISHUN RING RD	4 Room	$271	$388	43.1 per cent
941 JURONG WEST ST 91	4 Room	$265	$379	42.7 per cent
445 JURONG WEST ST 42	4 Room	$261	$366	40.5 per cent
902 JURONG WEST ST 91	4 Room	$267	$374	40.2 per cent
661 WOODLANDS RING RD	5 Room	$273	$445	63.4 per cent
206 BOON LAY DR	5 Room	$238	$389	63.2 per cent
10 MARSILING DR	5 Room	$219	$344	56.9 per cent
461 JURONG WEST ST 41	5 Room	$276	$409	47.9 per cent
120 MARSILING RISE	5 Room	$256	$364	42.2 per cent
12 TECK WHYE LANE	5 Room	$277	$381	37.7 per cent
729 JURONG WEST AVE 5	5 Room	$276	$369	33.3 per cent
826 JURONG WEST ST 81	5 Room	$274	$361	31.7 per cent
123 MARSILING RISE	5 Room	$265	$347	30.9 per cent
137 MARSILING RD	5 Room	$269	$349	30.0 per cent
141 MARSILING RD	Executive	$299	$443	48.1 per cent
467A ADMIRALTY DR	Executive	$302	$441	46.1 per cent
128 MARSILING RISE	Executive	$314	$457	45.4 per cent
556 JURONG WEST ST 42	Executive	$290	$418	44.1 per cent
274A JURONG WEST AVE 3	Executive	$317	$445	40.5 per cent
468B ADMIRALTY DR	Executive	$310	$418	34.8 per cent
407 JURONG WEST ST 42	Executive	$314	$420	33.9 per cent
520 WOODLANDS DR 14	Executive	$314	$420	33.8 per cent
530 CHOA CHU KANG ST 51	Executive	$306	$408	33.2 per cent
841 JURONG WEST ST 81	Executive	$306	$389	27.2 per cent

As above, this list shows the price movements of the cheapest flats we’ve found, since H1 2020. Quite tellingly, almost everything has risen in price across the board. 

As HDB does not use the names of the projects, we’re only able to locate these based on specific blocks. Blocks that did not have a single transaction in H1 2020 were excluded.

Note: Given the large amount of data, only 10 addresses per flat type were included.

Some observations from the price movements 

The price movements from Executive Flats were lower on average, than 3, 4, and 5-room flats within the list. On average, the 3, 4, and 5-room flats saw prices rise by about 47 to 48 per cent; whereas Executive Flats saw prices rise by an average of 34 per cent. 

Which is understandable, given the higher quantum. This might also be a result of the Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR), which caps home loan repayments to 30 per cent of the buyers’ income – this could have a more restrictive effect on the larger, and hence higher quantum, executive flats. 

ALSO READ: The pros and cons of buying a private property as your first home

Nonetheless, we would expect some movement in the prices of 3 and 4-room flats in the near term. This is following the September cooling measures, where a 15-month wait-out period was enforced on private home sellers seeking to buy resale flats. An exception to the wait-out period was made for Singaporeans aged 55 or higher, buying 4-room or smaller flats. 

While home prices are rising across the board, the unique quality of real estate is that there are always exceptions. If you’re willing to compromise, there may still be a decent option out there for you. Follow us on Stacked for updates, and in-depth reviews of new and resale units alike. 

This article was first published in Stackedhomes.