Condo rents fall 0.6% while HDB rates rise for 35th month

Condo rents dipped marginally by 0.6 per cent in May, following a short-lived 1 per cent increase in April.

- Esther Loi

But rents for Housing Board flats continued to climb for the 35th consecutive month, rising by 1.1 per cent in May, indicating resilient demand.

After the growing number of rentals over the previous two months, 5,164 condo units were rented out in May, a drop of 8.2 per cent from the 5,623 units leased in April.

The number of HDB units rented out also dropped by 10.2 per cent, with an estimated 2,857 flats leased, down from 3,183 flats in April, according to flash figures released on Wednesday by property portals 99.co and SRX.

Mr Luqman Hakim, 99.co's chief data and analytics officer, attributed the fall in condo rental volume to the mismatch in price expectations between landlords and tenants during months of continued rental hikes.

Ms Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at Orange Tee & Tie, said that demand may have contracted as a result of these mismatched expectations, leading to a longer time needed to close deals and encouraging some tenants to switch to the public housing sector for cheaper alternatives.

She added that the drop in condo rents was a sign that private rental growth has peaked and that rental prices were gradually stabilising.