Singapore tops Asia-Pacific with highest private home prices

For the second year in a row, Singapore’s private residential homes were the most expensive in the Asia-Pacific region, with a median price of US$1.3 million in 2023.

The price is the highest out of the 48 cities in 11 countries in the report published Tuesday by global non-profit research organization Urban Land Institute (ULI).

Hong Kong, with a median home price of US$1.15 million, and Sydney, Australia, at US$1.06 million, followed closely.

As for rental housing, the median monthly rent for two-bedroom private apartments in Singapore was also the highest at US$2,897, far surpassing Hong Kong (US$1,725) and Japan’s Tokyo (US$613) in the second and third spots, respectively.

The city-state was also rated by ULI in last year’s report as the region’s most expensive private housing market, with a median price of US$1.2 million and a median rent of US$2,596.

However, Singapore has the “most attainable” public housing in this year’s ranking list.

The report showed that the country has a homeownership rate of nearly 90%.

Affordability in home ownership is defined by a median home price to median annual household income ratio below 5.

The median price of Housing & Development Board flats, which make up 90% of the city-state’s housing stock, has a ratio of 4.7, according to the report.

Among the cities studied by ULI, Singapore boasts the highest median annual household income at US$97,124.

The average private home price in Singapore has been rising in recent years. It went up 1.5% in the first quarter of this year after increasing 2.8% in the last quarter of 2023. It has jumped 34.5% since the first quarter of 2020.