When it comes to rented non-landed private homes and HDB homes, it is worth mentioning that the COVID-19 outbreak didn’t affect them at all. Instead of recording a drop in price, as it happened in the case of resale properties, the rents for the previously mentioned units went up this February. SRX Property checked the situation in this sector and no decreases were noticed whatsoever. Thus, compared to last year, rents this February went up with 3.3%. This means that there is still demand rented units. Also, the value of rents for condominiums, for example, recorded an increase of 0.1%. This is a sign that demand is slightly larger than the available units.
According to the head of research of ERA Realty, Mr. Nicholas Mark, this increase in the volume of rented units may be due to the fact that many are returning to Singapore now that the Chinese New Year holiday ended. Besides this, there are educational institutions that begin their school year in the months of February and March, which means more foreign students in Singapore during this period. As it is expected, these students will find accommodation in the country in the form of units put up for rent.
So, considering the increasing demand for rented units and the current condition of the rental market, the units available in the private residential sector may be insufficient or pricier. Fortunately, this can translate into a growth in rental rates regarding HDB homes. Not being able to find a private property for rent in the desired terms or prince will push people to check out the rental offers issued by the HDB. Under these circumstances, the rental rates of HBD units may go up in the coming period.
However, it is also expected for the COVID-19 situation to put its imprint on the rental market as well. For example, demands for short-termed rents may be affected in a negative manner. If they don’t have to, people may want to avoid traveling to Singapore and living here for short periods, at least during this period of uncertainty. So, only those that go to school or have jobs in the city will rent a place here, and these are the long-termed demands.
Regarding the value of the rents in the month of February, units in the core central area enjoyed an increase of 0.9% per month, the rest of the central region marked an increase of 0.4% per month, while the outside central region didn’t record any kind of modifications. In this part of the city, rents remain the same. When it comes to the volume of rented units, February recorded a bigger number of rented units, then compared to January of the same year. So, if 4,006 units were rented in January, in February their number went up, reaching 4,830 units. This means a growth of 20.6% from one month to the other.
Rental units were always in high demand in Singapore and most certainly this aspect won’t change. There are many coming here for education or work-related opportunities, so the possibility for the demand or value regarding rents to decrease is rather low, if not even impossible.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/condo-and-hdb-rents-volumes-up-in-february-srx
