Singapore Housing Development Board (HDB) resale flat prices reached their highest level in two decades in the third quarter of this year, going by figures released by the HDB.
The only time prices had come anywhere near this level was in 1996-1997 — before the Asian financial crisis — and even then they had not been this high.
This chart is based on the figures given in Annex A-1 of the press release containing third quarter public housing data.
The press release said: HDB’s Resale Price Index (RPI) rose by 3.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2009 over the previous quarter.
But when I looked at the annexure, I saw prices had never been this high before. It showed prices since 1990.
In this decade, resale flats were most affordable from the first quarter of 2001 till the first quarter of 2007.
I came across the document after reading what Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said at the launch of the 50-storey Pinnacle@Duxton, the tallest HDB block.
Singaporeans can expect the prices of HDB flats to keep on rising as long as the economy continues to grow, he said, according to the Straits Times.
What is remarkable is that the resale flat prices continued to rise even after the economy went into recession last year.
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