Resale values in March increased for the sixth straight month as demand for larger flats for public housing continued to decline.

SRX released flash data on Monday, April 8, which showed that resale sales were up 0.3 % from one month to the next. The average resale price rose 0.5% in mature estates and 0.6% for non-mature ones.

The overall resale rates were higher by 6.2% when compared with the same period in 2013. Both matured and non-matured resale rates rose by six per cent.

The proportions of resale properties transacted within mature estates have also increased, reaching a new six-month record of 40.1%. However flats found in less mature estates still make up the bulk of total resale volumes (59%).

Many private owners are now looking to downgrade their HDB flats to resale, and these buyers can afford to pay more.

One of the biggest gains in resale values was for five-room flats. They rose by 1 per cent over the past month. This was followed closely by four-roomed flats which increased 0.5 per cent. In contrast, the resale of executive and three-room flats fell by 0.1% each.

Resale prices rose 6.8 percent year-on-year for flats of five rooms. Four-room apartment prices also increased, by 6.3 per cent. Three-roomed flats rose by 5.6 percent on the past year. Executive apartments also saw a resale increase of 4.4percent.

It is believed that the rise in resale sales of apartments with 5 rooms and more has been due to the increased number former private property buyers entering the marketplace after completing their 15 month waiting period.

The percentage of flats resold in March with a lease that lasted 90 years or longer was 26.8percent higher than February.

Since newer properties tend to be more expensive, they may have contributed to the general resale value.

Newport Residences Singapore

In terms of volume, the largest number of transactions was made by four-roomed flats (43.6%), followed closely by five-roomed flats (25.2%). A quarter of transactions involved three-room apartment flats and six percent were executive flats.

Resale volumes for non-mature estate flats accounted for 59.9 %, while the remaining 40% was made up by mature estates.

HDB flats were sold at least S$1m more often in March than in February. The transactions in question accounted only for 3% (of the total number of resale deals) in March.

Buyers prefer to buy newer apartments. More than half these transactions involved resale homes that are less than 15-years-old.

ToaPayoh, which recorded nine million-dollar deals in the past month, was the area that attracted the most transactions. Kallang followed, Whampoa was next, Bukitmerah and Clementi had seven deals.

The rest million-dollar resale condo transactions took place around Hougang, Bishan Central Area, Queenstown Serangoon, Bedok Ang Mo Kio Tampines Jurong East Bukit Timah Bukit Panjang Yishun.

The highest price of a resale property in March was S$1.45million for a four-room flat located at Boon Tiong Road. The most costly flat resold was a S$1.2 million executive apartment located at Yishun Ave. 4.