Headline: Non-landed private rents down, volume improved in March 2015.
A. Non-Landed Private Residential Rental Market
1. Private rents continued to fall. According to the SRX Property Price Index for Non-landed Private Residential Rentals, rents posted a drop of 0.4% in March 2015 compared to February 2015. Non-landed Private Residential units in CCR and RCR saw decreases in rents of 0.5% and 0.9% respectively. The rents in OCR increased by 0.8% from February.
According to the SRX Property Price Index for Non-landed Private Rentals:
· Year-on-year, rents in March 2015 are down 6.3% from March 2014.
· Rents in March are 11.1% down compared with its peak in January 2013.
· Rents change in February has been revised from a 0.8% decrease to a 1.3% decrease.
2. Rental volume improved. According to the SRX Property, an estimated 3,948 Non-landed Private Residential units were rented in March 2015. This represented a 37.1% increase from 2,880 units rented in February 2015.
· Year-on-year, rental volume in March 2015 is 14.0% higher compared to 3,463 units rented in March 2014.
B. HDB Rental Market
1. HDB rents flat in March. According to the SRX Property Price Index for HDB Rentals, rents inched up marginally by 0.1% in March compared to February. HDB 3 and 4-Room flats both posted a 0.4% increase in rents, while 5 Room and Executive flats saw a 1.3% and 1.8% drop in rents respectively.
According to the SRX Property Price Index for HDB Rentals:
· HDB rental prices stopped declining for the first time in 7 months since Aug 2014.
· Year-on-year, rents in March 2015 are down 3.5% from March 2014.
· Rents in March are 5.8% down compared with its peak in August 2013.
· Rents change in February has been revised from a 0.3% decrease to a 0.6% decrease
According to the SRX Property Price Sub-Indices for HDB Rentals in Mature and Non-mature Estates:
· Rents inched up marginally by 0.1% in both Mature and Non-mature Estates in March 2015.
· Year-on-year, rents of Non-mature Estates in March 2015 have dropped 4.1% from March 2014.
· Year-on-year, rents of Mature Estates in March 2015 have dropped 2.9% from March 2014.
2. HDB rental volume improved. According to the SRX Property, an estimated 1,838 HDB flats were rented in March 2015, a 29.4% increase from 1,420 units rented in February 2015.
· Year-on-year, rental volume in March 2015 is 3.8% lower compared to 1,910 units rented in March 2014
Source: SRX (15 Apr 2015)