SINGAPORE – The emergence out of this current pandemic-caused rut seem to be on track, with rental volumes for both condominium units and Housing Development Board flats hitting another month of highs in January 2021. This is good news for new condo developers who are pricing their new launches to entice tenants to covert to owners, like how The Watergardens At Canberra Price is going to be competitive when it starts its sale in July.

Condo rentals spiked 11.3% last month at around 4,747 units, as compared to 4,266 units in December 2020, in a report of flash data given by property portal SRX Property on Wednesday (February 10).

This represented a 10.4% rise from the month of January a year ago. Rental volumes were also 8.5% more than the 5-year mean volume for the month of January. This is a cause for more Singaporeans to get their own abode, like the One Bernam.

HDB flat lease volume jumped 14.6% month on month (MoM) to about 1,912 units in January, as compared to 1,668 flats in December last year.

Out of the 1,912 HDB flats, 36.6% are 4-room units, 34.5% are 3-room, 23.1% are 5-room and 5.6% are executive apartments.

Year on year (YoY), the HDB flat leases increases 8.5% compared to January 2020.

Head of OrangeTee & Tie research and analytics, Miss Christine Sun, commented that it isn’t surprising to see rental volumes rebounding, given the improving Covid-19 situation in Singapore and the progressive amends made to welcome back international travel.

“More Singapore permanent residents and nationals have been coming back to Singapore and a bulk will need short- to mid-term accommodation,” she added.

There is an increase of inbound travellers too, like work pass holders, students, and long-term visit pass holders seeking available rental units in the past few months, she noticed.

“A number of these people are seeking accommodation either near their workplaces or schools, which aided an uptick in leasing demand for private residences and HDB flats in suburbs and CBD fringes.” The One Bernam is located at such a city fringe near Outram Park. One can visit the One Bernam Showflat for better understanding of the location and its convenience.

As more restrictions on travel are removed, rental demand may resume to improve in the following months, Miss Sun mentioned.

Condominium rents, in the mean time, continued their recovery from a 4-month decline last year when the Covid-19 pandemic caused weak hiring from employees, and foreigners losing their jobs. Miss Sun had earlier mentioned that Covid-19 seem to have reversed 10 whole years of exploding growth in rental demand in this city state.

They rose 1.6% in January 2021 from the earlier month, after dropping in December.

Condominium rents YoY inched up 0.3%, however it is still 15.1% less than the peak of January 2013.

Rentals recorded in the core central region (CCR) hiked 2% MoM and the outside central region (OCR) jumped 1.7%. The rest of central region (RCR) only increased by 1.1%. One Bernam is in the Rest of Core Region, next to Outram Park.

HDB flat rents increased for a seventh consecutive month, moving 0.9% higher in January from December.

Rentals in mature estates went up by 1.4%, while those in non-mature estates inched up by 0.4%.

Overall rents rose by 1.7% YoY,  although they are below 12.1% from their peak back in August 2013.

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/more-condo-and-hdb-units-rented-out-in-january-2021-srx