SINGAPORE – Rentals for private residential units and Housing Development Board (HDB) flats picked up speed last month, with analysts recognizing that the trend displays no sign of letting up.

HDB rents rose by 2.4% in August, compared with July’s 1.5%, with rents in both non-mature and mature estates increasing, across all flat types, according to flash numbers released on Wednesday by real estate portals SRX and 99.co.

Condominium rents jumped 3.2% last month, compared with 1.7% the month earlier, with those in central Singapore rising at the fastest speed at 3.7%.

The numbers mark the 20th consecutive month of growth for condo rents and 26th for HDB rents.

Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie senior vice-president of research and analytics, commented: “As the tight housing environment is not expected to be relieved soon, rental rates may continue to increase or be propped up from today’s levels in the next few months.”

Year on year, condo rents have hiked by 27.5% from August 2021, with rents in the suburbs up 28.2%.

HDB rents are 21.6% more compared with August 2021, with 5-room flats recording a 22.9% surge.

Recognizing that the year on year increase is “astonishing”, Mr Nicholas Mak, ERA Realty’s head of research and consultancy, mentioned that this could be contributed by more foreigners coming to Singapore after Covid-19 restrictions were eased in April.

Previous month, there was a jump in demand from expatriates and foreign students in banking, information technology and healthcare as hiring surged, added Mr Mark Yip, Huttons Asia chief executive.

Tenants displaced by successful collective sales earlier, contributed to the rental demand, hiking rents across all residential types, he commented.

Meanwhile, condominium rental volume inched up by 0.4% to an estimated 4,524 units in the previous month, reversing the decline from the month earlier.

But the number of units leased fell by 6.3% year on year and were 8% less than the 5-year average for the month of August.

Mr Mak said the slight month on month rise indicated that rental volumes are stabilising, like that of residences around Blossoms By The Park location.

“Although the figures of foreigners arriving to Singapore to live, work and study continued to increase in the previous few months, the number of  Singapore residents who rent condominiums and flats is not increasing,” he said.

“One of the reasons is that the increasing rental prices are also placing a financial stress on many young locals who are considering to rent their own homes.”

Ms Sun said some tenants, especially Singaporeans who do not require to rent urgently, may not renew their leases in the midst of the escalating rates and move back to reside with their families.

“We do not anticipate rental demand to rebound too drastically due to some rate resistance, unless there is a notable ramp-up in foreign employment, that may force rental demand higher,” she commented.

As Singapore moves to draw top foreign talent with its new Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass, which has a criterion of $30,000 in fixed monthly salary, analysts deduced this could spur rental demand for high-end real estate like the One Bernam project.

Mr Mak remarked: “Although these highly paid expatriates will be in the minority… the signs are pointing to uptrend pressure for rental prices in both the private housing and HDB markets in the near term.”

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/condo-and-hdb-rentals-in-august-continue-growth-trend-with-more-units-leased