SG Morning Highlights | UMS Acquires 5.4 Acres of Industrial Land in Penang

Advancers / Decliners is 98 to 77, with 112.37 million securities worth S$132.69 million changing hands.

HDB resale volume for Q2 recorded 7,208 cases, up 14.5% YoY from 6,297 cases in Q2 2023. HDB plans to offer 8,500 flats in 15 Build-To-Order (BTO) projects in the October BTO exercise, offered as Standard, Plus, or Prime flats based on their specific locational attributes. HDB's flash estimate of the Q2 Resale Price Index (RPI) is 187.6, a 2.1% QoQ increase from Q1 amidst strong demand and market supply tightness. Huttons revised its estimate for HDB resale transaction volume to be between 26,000 and 28,000 for 2024, with resale prices forecast to grow up to 8% from an earlier estimate of 3% to 5%. OrangeTee projects resale prices to increase up to 5% this year, with competition for buyers potentially stiffening as the government releases more flats in good locations in October. HDB aims to launch a total of 100,000 flats from 2021 to 2025.

The number of private residential units launched in Q2 dropped 70% due to smaller project launches and more cautious buying sentiment, with only 600-700 new units debuted compared to 2,000 units launched a year earlier. Developers' sales in Q2 were estimated at just 700 to 800 units, a 65% decline compared to Q2 2023 and 35% lower than Q1 of this year. Prices in the property market edged up just 1.1% in Q2, easing from the 1.4% in Q1, due to higher for longer interest rates and cautious sentiments. Huttons named Districts 23, 26, and 15 as the top districts with the highest developers' sales in Q2, with Hillhaven, The Botany, and The Myst as the best-selling projects.