Number of Resale Transactions Excluded from HDB's Public InfoWEB and Data.gov.sg platforms and Reasons for Exclusion
Ministry of National DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis’s inquiry into why certain HDB resale transactions are excluded from public platforms and why SERS replacement flats are included in the Resale Price Index. Minister Desmond Lee stated that 1,000 to 2,000 transactions annually, or 4% to 6%, are excluded because they involve atypical conditions like part-share or related-party transfers. These exclusions, including 127 SERS flats with longer leases, aim to provide relevant benchmarks for market price negotiations and minimize information asymmetry. Minister Desmond Lee explained that these transactions are included in the index because the hedonic regression methodology controls for lease variations, unlike raw public data. Consequently, the policy ensures public transparency while focusing on typical transactions that accurately reflect prevailing market conditions for buyers and sellers.
Transcript
43 Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Minister for National Development (a) in each of the last five years, what is the number of HDB resale transactions that were excluded from HDB's public InfoWEB and data.gov.sg platforms; (b) why were these transactions excluded; and (c) why were 127 resale transactions of SERS replacement flats with less than five years' occupancy between April 2022 and December 2024 excluded from the HDB's public InfoWEB and data.gov.sg platforms when these same transactions were included in the Resale Price Index calculations.
Mr Desmond Lee: Housing and Development Board (HDB) resale flat transactions are conducted on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis and reflect prevailing market conditions. HDB publishes relevant resale data for transparency to minimise information asymmetry and enable the efficient functioning of the resale market.
Data on the prices of individual resale transactions is published on the HDB InfoWEB and data.gov.sg. This is meant to assist buyers and sellers to make informed decisions when negotiating resale flat prices. Therefore, resale transactions that do not reflect typical market transactions are not published as they are less relevant in helping buyers and sellers in price negotiations.
From 2020 to 2024, about 1,000 to 2,000 transactions a year were not published, out of about 25,000 to 31,000 resale transactions registered annually, or 4% to 6%. These include the 127 transactions involving the resale of Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) replacement flats mentioned by the Member. These SERS replacement flats have longer remaining leases compared to typical resale flats, making them less relevant as a reference for price negotiations. Other atypical transactions, such as the resale of part-share and resale between related parties, are also not published.
The computation of HDB's Resale Price Index uses a hedonic regression methodology that controls for variations in the remaining leases of the flats that were transacted. Therefore, there is no need to exclude the SERS replacement flats that had longer remaining leases compared to typical resale flats.