Rental demand in Singapore is also expected to remain robust as more expats renew or sign contracts.
Rents for condominiums across Singapore rose 2.4 percent year-on-year and 0.6 percent month-on-month, with the Core Central Region (CCR) recording the highest increase at 2.8 percent, reported Singapore Business Review.
Rents in the Outside Central Region (OCR) and Rest of Central Region (RCR) rose by 2.0 percent and 2.3 percent year-on-year respectively.
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OrangeTee & Tie head of research and consultancy Christine Sun revealed that rents have been on the rise since October last year and have grown 3.8 percent from October to April this year.
“The increasing rental prices at CCR could be attributed to the limited supply of completed luxury homes and demolition of collective sales sites to make way for newer homes,” she noted.
Rental volume decreased 3.6 percent year-on-year in April as rents slowly increased, with around 4,790 units rented in comparison to the 5,157 units rented a year ago.
On a month-on-month basis, rental volume dropped five percent from the 5,299 units rented out in March.
Despite this, Sun shared that rental demand is expected to remain robust as the second and third quarters see more expats renewing or signing contracts.
She has also observed that lately, there has been an increase in the number of tenants coming from the finance, medical, IT and MICE industries, including those employed in fintech companies, pharmaceutical firms, tech startups, hotels and cruises.
On the other hand, HDB rents rose by 0.3 percent year-on-year in April, which is down 15.1 percent compared to August 2013.
HDB rentals in mature estates grew by 0.6 percent while those for non-mature estates decreased by 0.1 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the HDB rental volume fell 11.4 percent year-on-year, with around 2,006 units rented in April compared to 2,264 in 2018.
“The increasing supply of HDB flats reaching their five-year occupation period may place some downward pressure in HDB rents,” said Sun.
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Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
