Development Charge Rates Increased for Commercial, Residential and Industrial Units with a Cut on Hotel Use

 

The development charge rates for commercial, residential, and industrial use properties were raised for the very first time right since March 2019 and the new implications became active from March 1 for the next six months. This happened as a result of the broad-based recovery of the property market in Singapore; however, the hotel segment is an exception as it went down due to the pandemic effect.

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Home Improvement Programme for older HDB flats

 

The Singapore homes will be improved more and more as the government has undertaken the Home Improvement Programme (HIP). The old houses need time to repair and upgrade and that is why the HIP or Housing Improvement Programme was introduced in 2007. Now, under the extended HIP, the housing flats built between 1987 and 1997 are eligible for this programme. Around 230,000 housing flats built during these years will come under HIP.

As per the report of HDB on Feb 20 (Sunday), about 56,000 flats will be taken at the first phase and their upgrading work will start soon.

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Rising rentals expected in recent months

Singapore is witnessing a rise in the rental market for HDB flats and Singapore Condos in recent months. The market rising is continuing and as it seems will be a continuous rise for the coming months also. There are several reasons that may be behind this.


1. Holidays are over:
This is quite normal that the rental activities pick up after the holiday at the end of the year ends. So, this is also one of the reasons behind high demand in the rental market.

2. Recovering of Labour Market:
The labour market is recovering now and there seems to increase inflow of labors, there has been an increasing number of workers that are non-resident for the first time in the past 2 years. According to the report from the ministry, there is an increase of 47,400 in the total number of employment. So naturally, the demand for housing also increasing.


3. Employment in other sectors also increasing:
Employment is also growing in other sectors like information and communication, financial services, etc. So, naturally again the demand in the rental market also growing.


4. Border Relax:
Singapore is relaxing its border control, so more and more overseas employees are going to come and thus the demand for rental houses is also increasing.


5. People are looking for bigger space:
As more and more overseas people are coming, the landlords are observing an increase in demand for bigger properties. The main reason behind this is people are mostly doing work from home.


Percentage of increases in rental:
If we sum up the various types of rental properties, the picture will be as follows:


Type of Property Increase percentage

Type of Property

Increase percentage

Condominiums

1.6%

HDB

11.2%



Not only the rent but also there has been increasing in rental volume too. For example, the rental volume of Singapore condominiums has increased by 3.9 percent in January. The suburbs are getting the biggest share of rental volume is around 39.9 percent of the total share.


The leasing of property is also on high along with the rental. There is also an uprise in selling existing flat and going for a new one. This has increased after the new cooling measures for residential properties took effect in December 2021. There has been an increase in the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) if the citizens are buying a second property and it increases as you go for a third property. So, citizens are now selling the old one before going for the new one. So, naturally, the rental house comes in between selling the existing one and buying the new one.
If we observe the rental market closely, it seems that the volume of Singapore condos for rental will increase by 3 percent this year and the rent will be increased by 8 to 11 percent.


The same is the case for HDB also. The record 35000 HDB flats that will be hitting their MOP this year, could ask to rent out their units at a high price than the older flats they have in the same estate or neighborhood.
So, if you are planning to shift to Singapore for your job or for any other reasons and planning to rent a house, start the process immediately. The rental market is in high demand and the price will gradually increase. So, don’t wait just finalize it.

 

 

Learn more from the link below,

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/condo-hdb-rentals-rise-in-january-as-labour-markets-recover-and-border-controls-ease