Singapore, 29 Apr 2023 Singapore has unseated New York as the city with the strongest rental growth globally, after the costs of renting homes here hit a record high in March. The hike even spilt to the Housing Board market, with some five-room flats in Ang Mo Kio and Cantonment Road scoring record monthly rents of over $6,000 a month.
Private rents rose by 9.3 per cent from 2019 to 2021, and escalated further by 29.7 per cent year on year in 2022 – the fastest annual growth since 2007. In the same year, HDB rents rose at their quickest pace in 15 years – by 28.6 per cent.
As mortgage rates, taxes and inflation jumped, many landlords passed the cost to their tenants. Rents were spurred by the return of expatriates, foreign students and permanent residents after the Covid-19 pandemic stabilised and global travel resumed.