Private home rents beginning to ease up - Singapore

The Urban Redevelopment Authority yesterday released reports that showed a slow down in the sharp rise of rentals for condos in key areas. Rentals for non-landed property in the core central region of Bukit Timah and Tanglin, for example, grew just 5.3%, less than half the rate of 12.2% achieved in the third quarter.

However, the drop in rental growth for the rest of the central region slid from 11.9% to 8.8%, and outside the central region, from 11.8% to 8.5%. As a whole, rent in private homes grew 6.8% from the last quarter of 2007, slowing from the 11.4% gain in the third quarter.

Overall, rents for private homes manage to surge 41.2% for the whole of last year. Finally, expatriates and tenants in the search for a rental apartment or renewing their existing lease can start to breathe easier.

It is expected that rent may continue to push forward in the coming months but at a more gradual rate. This however, may not be true for prime luxury homes, which will probably still  enjoys a healthy increase of up to 30%.

Rentals for HDB homes continues to grow strongly. The median rent for a 4 room flat rose from $1400 to $1500 in the last quarter, while that for 5 room grew to $1700. 

Interestingly, some 3300 flat owners were given approval to rent their flats. The total number of flats being rented out rose by a good 7% to 17400 in the last quarter of 2007. 

Rent may continue to rise for HDB flats as demands for such flats show no signs of slowing down. Very often, units located in good location with amenities were snap up the same day they were placed in the market.

As rent for private homes continues to rise, expats who are not willing to pay the hefty rent are searching for alternatives, most of the time leading them to HDB flats.