When cooling measures were announced on 30 September 2022, many buyers, sellers and agents were caught by surprise. Understandably, some were considering whether to proceed with signing their Option-to-Purchase (OTP), while others were in the midst of evaluating their affordability due to higher stress-test interest rates before applying to borrow for housing loans.

Private property owners who have sold their homes and are looking to downgrade to an HDB resale flat now have to wait 15 months before they can buy one (with some exceptions if you’re 55 years old and older).

As many affected buyers were making critical decisions after the announcement, several transaction records have been lodged since then.

All-time-high transaction records pre- and post-Sept 30

Tallied by 99.co and SRX as of 9 October 2022, the following are all-time-high resale transactions filtered by town/district, property type and price.

For the HDB resale transactions, the filter gave us transactions lodged a day after the announcement, while for condos, we’re able to see all-time-high transactions just 1-2 weeks before and after the announcement.

Based on the records, we can assume that not everyone was affected by the sudden announcement, or if they were, they could have already signed their OTPs beforehand and are, thus, not impacted by the change.

HDB resale all-time-high transactions by room type and township

There are several interesting findings here:

1. Four HDB apartments in Yishun recorded all-time-high resale prices in their respective room types for the town, namely 2-, 3-, 4- and executive. A 2-room at Yishun Avenue 4 was sold for a record S$320k, 3-room at S$520k, 4-room at S$694k and a 1,765-sqft executive apartment sold for S$1.078m.
2. The 3-room (667 sqft) apartment at Boon Tiong Road has the highest psf price (S$1,199 psf) for a 3-room (Model A) ever sold in Bukit Merah to date. In psf terms, it is surpassed only by a 4-room unit, also at Boon Tiong Road, which sold for S$1.158m, or S$1,237.18 psf in June 2022.
3. For both 3-room apartments at Pasir Ris Drive 1 and Punggol Walk, their absolute resale prices are the current all-time highs for the room types in their areas. The Punggol apartment is a 3-room premium apartment.
4. The 5-room resale flat at Toa Payoh’s DBSS project The Peak may not hold the current record for Singapore’s most expensive HDB resale flat, but its S$1.38m price at S$1,124 psf is an all-time-high for 5-room resale units in the township – both in terms of absolute price and psf. This also makes it the fifth most expensive HDB resale flat in Singapore.
5.  Finally, the 1,496-sqft executive apartment at Kang Ching Road is Jurong West’s most expensive executive HDB resale flat to date at S$805k (S$538 psf). It is the fourth most expensive HDB resale flat ever sold in the town (sharing a joint position with a 1,130-sqft 5-room DBSS apartment at Lake Vista @ Yuan Ching Road, which sold at S$712 psf in August).

As these transactions were recorded just one day after the 30 September announcement, the cooling measure restrictions’ impact may not have been fully felt. To see if there’s an impact, we’ll definitely look at subsequent HDB resale transactions in subsequent weeks.

Condo all-time-high transactions by project

As for recent condo transactions (new/sub-sale/resale), we’ve pulled and filtered the following chart for all-time-high prices recorded for condos over the past two weeks.

Here are our findings:

1. On the day of the cooling measure announcement, a 4-bedroom 2583-sqft apartment at freehold condo Meadows@Peirce registered the highest price sold for the project at S$3.36m. This price also puts the sale as a record for District 26 (Mandai/Upper Thomson). In psf terms, its S$1300.81 price is far behind the current lead – a 1-bedroom 635-sqft apartment, also at Meadows@Peirce, which sold for S$1m, or S$1,574.80 psf, back in May 2022.
2. Besides D26, the district of Geylang also saw a record being broken. Since its TOP in 1993, freehold condo Familie Mansions sold its first million-dollar apartment at S$1.13m for a 1227-sqft unit. The previous record for the project was in July 2019, when a 1228-sqft unit was sold for S$890k.
3. In District 17, the 20-unit Loyang Townhouse also saw one of its units breaching the S$2m mark for the first time. Completed in 1993, the sale of the 999-year, 1938-sqft unit surpassed the development’s previous S$1.48m record set more than a decade ago in June 2012.
4. Similarly, freehold condo Jade Mansion, also saw a new record being broken. Completed in 1985, the 27-unit project has breached the S$5m mark with the sale of a 2,724-sqft apartment, surpassing its S$4.38m record set in August 2021.
5. Notably, Tanglin View, an old but medium-sized 99-year-leasehold development with 384 units, saw a new record when a 4-bedroom, 2401-sqft apartment sold for S$3.7m. The last record it held was in December 2007, when a 4-bedroom apartment sold for S$3.571m. It should be noted that on the same day, a 3-bedroom 1,162-sqft apartment at Tanglin View was sold for S$1.92m or S$1,652.32 psf. In psf terms, this is the highest on record for the project to date.
6. For the 5-year-old executive condominium The Vales in District 19, the project registered a new record when a 3-bedroom 1680-sqft apartment was sold for S$1.95m, breaking its previous record just two months earlier at S$1.93m. This was likely sold after the unit had reached its Minimum Occupation Period (MOP).
7. Finally, another newer development, Pullman Residences Newton, a new record has also been set with the new sale of a 4-bedroom unit at S$4.248m. The S$3082.73 psf price isn’t the highest for the project – that’s currently being held by a 2-bedroom unit, which sold for S$2.33m, or S$3,493.25 psf in December 2021.

Most of the all-the-high transactions for condos happened before the cooling measure announcement. In subsequent analyses, we should be able to see if there are more ATH transactions in this market as a result of the restrictions. This is because as private condo sellers are now locked out of downgrading to an HDB resale (having to wait for 15 months), there may be greater demand for smaller-sized condo apartments.

Stay tuned.

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HDB Resale apartments for sale in Yishun

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862 Yishun Avenue 4

Singapore 760862 · D27

2

2

797 sqft

$380,000

View this listing

316C Yishun Avenue 9

Singapore 763316 · D27

4

2

1,206 sqft

$640,000

View this listing

161 Yishun Street 11

Singapore 760161 · D27

3

2

1,356 sqft

$580,000

View this listing

701 Yishun Avenue 5

Singapore 760701 · D27

2

2

882 sqft

$420,000

View this listing

664 Yishun Avenue 4

Singapore 760664 · D27

5

3

1,808 sqft

$990,000

View this listing

607 Yishun Street 61

Singapore 760607 · D27

3

2

1,301 sqft

$730,000

View this listing

504B Yishun Street 51

Singapore 762504 · D27

3

2

1,001 sqft

$490,000

View this listing

512C Yishun Street 51

Singapore 763512 · D27

3

2

1,216 sqft

$685,000

View this listing

336C Yishun Street 31

Singapore 763336 · D27

3

2

990 sqft

$519,999

View this listing

395 Yishun Ring Road

Singapore 760395 · D27

3

2

904 sqft

$430,000

View this listing

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Are you affected by the recent September 30 cooling measure restrictions? Let us know in the comments section below.

If you found this article helpful, 99.co recommends Bishan HDB with 64 years left sold for $1.18m, with a record S$750 psf for the neighbourhood and Dakota Crescent maisonette sold for a record S$1.05 million.