Resale condo prices up by 0.8% in March 2022, with the highest price increase in the OCR

Prices of resale condos have increased for the 20th straight month, with a month-on-month increase of 0.8 per cent.

According to the 99.co and SRX report on the resale condo market, the OCR market segment has recorded the highest increase at 1.4 per cent in March 2022. In comparison, CCR resale condo prices rose by 0.6 per cent, while RCR resale condo prices fell by 0.2 per cent.

A steeper price increase for OCR resale condos

Year-on-year, OCR resale condos have seen the highest increase at 11.8 per cent, compared to CCR resale condos at 7.1 per cent and RCR resale condos at 7.3 per cent.

Christine Sun, Senior Vice President of Research and Analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, explained that despite last December’s cooling measures, the price increase is due to demand far outstripping supply, especially in the suburbs.

“We estimate that less than 7,000 new condominiums (excluding EC) will be released for sale this year. Of this number, only 30 per cent or around 2,100 units will be in the Outside of Central Region (OCR), which will likely be insufficient to meet the annual housing demand from HDB upgraders.”

This has led to the steeper increase in OCR resale condos, compared to those in the CCR and RCR.

“Therefore, a continual demand spillover from the new sale market to the resale market may prop up prices of mass-market resale condominiums further this year,” Sun predicted.

Sales volume up by 35.6 per cent

As the Chinese New Year lull season has passed, sales volume has increased. An estimated 1,302 units were resold last month, which translates to an increase of 35.6 per cent from the 960 units resold in February.

On top of that, with the relaxation of the safe management measures, which includes increasing the group size to 10 people, it is expected that there will be more viewings and sales in the coming months.

This article was first published in 99.co.