In Singapore, the Housing and Development Board manages public housing, which accounts for the majority of residential housing, and around 17 out of 20 Singaporeans live in such housing. Resale of HDB floors is allowed, and existing owners sell them on the open market to eligible buyers at a price agreed in advance. These prices must be declared to the HDB, although the latter does not regulate them.

In the first quarter of 2014 (Q1), the resale price index fell from 201.7 (fourth quarter of 2013) to 198.5 – 1.6%, according to HDB’s InfoWEB. Resale transactions also decreased by 5%, from 4,001 cases registered in the fourth quarter of 2013 to 3,781 cases.

With the March 10, 2014 revision to resale procedures announced by MND Minister Khaw Boon Wan, as of the first quarter of 2014, HDB stopped publishing Median Cash-over-Valuation by city and type of floor, previously published quarterly. Additionally, any COV data previously available in HDB InfoWEB was removed. The goal of the March 10 review was to reduce the focus on COV transactions by accepting appraisal requests only after an OTP (option to buy) has been granted to prospective flat resale buyers.

To facilitate flat resale price negotiations, both sellers and buyers of HDB flooring have the option of viewing the latest negotiated prices for similar resale flats, which can be found daily on HDB InfoWEB. Electronic services that can help buyers and sellers with the necessary information are:

Centralized map services – an online service that apartment buyers can use to check the registered resale prices for each block located on the map. In addition, apartment buyers also have the possibility to inquire about negotiated resale prices within a radius of five hundred meters of any existing DBSS (Design, Build and Sell Scheme) project or HDB blocks.

Fixed resale price e-Service – an interactive online service that prospective apartment buyers can use to browse available apartments based on type, prices, registration date of the resale application, etc. This service is available on smartphones.

Regarding the HDB rental market, the number of flats approved by the Housing and Development Board for subleasing grew by 2.1%, from 45,674 flats in the last quarter of 2013 to 46,637 units in the first quarter of 2014. In addition, sublease operations grew from 7,268 registered cases. in the 4th quarter of 2013 to 8,485 cases in the 1st quarter of 2014. The increase was 17%, according to HDB.

In the first quarter of 2014, the Housing and Development Board put 6,636 homes up for sale in the framework of two BTO exercises. The May 2014 BTO exercise will bring in about 3,060 apartments in Woodlands and Bukit Batok, with another 3,000 apartments offered in the simultaneous Balance Flats Sale exercise.