The HDB Resale Price Index (RPI) is one of the most closely watched indicators of Singapore’s public housing market, showing how resale flat prices respond to economic shocks, housing supply constraints and government policy over time. Published by HDB, the index provides a long-term measure of Singapore’s HDB resale market, helping to track how prices have changed through different economic cycles and policy environments. Viewed over several decades, the chart shows that HDB resale prices move in cycles, but those cycles are shaped as much by policy decisions and housing supply conditions as by the broader economy.

The first major cycle culminated in the mid-1990s housing boom. Singapore had already introduced measures to cool property speculation in May 1996, and when the Asian Financial Crisis pushed the economy into recession in 1998, HDB resale prices corrected sharply. The index fell from 99.0 at its 1996 peak to 72.3 by the end of 1998 and remained subdued into the early 2000s. Across the entire history of the index, this period remains the clearest example of a crisis-driven downturn in the HDB resale market.

The Global Financial Crisis followed a different pattern. Singapore’s economy weakened sharply in late 2008 and early 2009, but the HDB Resale Price Index dipped only marginally before beginning a strong recovery. That rebound eventually pushed the index to 149.4 in 2013. A series of cooling measures and tighter borrowing rules subsequently moderated demand, leading to a gradual decline and several years of price consolidation.

The most dramatic move on the chart occurred during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Singapore experienced its deepest recession in decades in 2020, HDB resale prices continued to rise as construction delays extended BTO waiting times, more buyers turned to the resale market and housing supply remained constrained. The index climbed from 131.5 in early 2020 to a record high of 203.7 in 2025.

Since then, the market has shifted from boom to slowdown. Annual resale price growth eased from approximately 9.7% in 2024 to 2.9% in 2025, while the index edged down slightly to 203.4 in early 2026. Taken together, the recent flattening of the index appears less like the start of a major correction and more like a period of policy and supply-driven cooling following one of the strongest growth cycles in HDB resale market history.