More HDB flat owners renting out units

SINGAPORE - HDB figures last month showed a 6 per cent rise in subletting transactions between the first and second quarters of this year, from 7,410 cases to 7,891.

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The Singapore Real Estate and Property Exchange (SRX) also reported an increase in rental transactions in its estimates.

Here is the Property Index as posted on the SRX website:

July 2013 Non-landed Private Residential Resales:

Based on the SRX Property Index (SPI), resale prices of non-landed private residential units inched upwards by 0.1 per cent in July 2013, on a backdrop of 0.8 per cent increase in June. This is 1.2 per cent lower than the price peak seen in February this year.

 Core Central Region (CCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR) prices slipped by 0.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively. Rest of Central Region (RCR) saw a price gain of 1.2 per cent.

Resale transaction volume remained relatively flat. An estimated 670 non-landed homes were transacted in July, slightly more than June's 640 units.

Non-landed Private Residential Rental:

Based on the non-landed residential rental SPI sub-index, overall rental prices for non-landed private residential in July inched upwards by 0.2 per cent from June, reversing the drop in the past three months.

On a regional basis, rental prices in the CCR gained by 1.4 per cent, while both RCR and OCR's rents softened by 0.9 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.

HDB Resale and Rental:

Overall HDB Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) dropped $4,000 in Jul to reach $20,000 - the lowest since January 2011. From a peak of $35,000 in January this year, COV had dropped by 43 per cent in the last half a year.

Overall HDB resale prices slipped 0.5 per cent in July, marking the third consecutive marginal monthly drop in resale prices.

HDB resale volume remained relatively flat. According to flash estimates, 1,270 HDB flats were sold in the resale market in July, similar to June's 1,266 resale cases. Year-on-year, July's resale volume represented a 36 per cent drop from the same period in 2012.

An estimated 1,760 HDB flats were rented in July 2013, up by 13 per cent compared to June. This number also exceeded the 1,632 HDB rental transactions in July last year.