On September 9 last year, the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) announced revisions to the Primary 1 registration system to allow more students to attend schools near their homes and to ensure the openness of the admission system.
Following the implementation of the new rules, the MOE will recalculate the distance between home addresses and schools. With the new calculation method, the one-kilometer radius around schools will be expanded, benefiting families on the edge of this radius by reclassifying their homes from being outside to inside the priority zone. At the same time, the number of reserved places in Phase 2C will be increased from 20 to 40.
Under the new system, Phase 2A1 and Phase 2A2 registrations will be combined, signifying greater competition and an increased likelihood of balloting. Furthermore, the MOE requires 20 places to be reserved for each of Phase 2B and Phase 2C. This has led parents with no immediate affiliation to the school to rent properties nearby to gain priority admission. For prestigious schools located in private residential areas, the housing density is lower than in HDB estates, resulting in fewer children registering in Phase 2C and thus a relatively higher chance of securing a place through balloting.
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Demand for Surrounding Private Homes Drives Rental Price Increases
Due to the limited supply of private residences around popular primary schools, rental prices for surrounding properties have risen sharply. According to rental data for private homes from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for April and May, the year-on-year rental increase for two-bedroom private homes near five popular primary schools ranged from 10% to 20%, while three-bedroom units saw an increase of 8.8% to 21.5%.
These five primary schools are Anglo-Chinese School (Primary), Methodist Girls’ School (Primary), Raffles Girls’ Primary School, River Valley Primary School, and Tao Nan School.
Among them, two- and three-bedroom private homes within a one-kilometer radius of Raffles Girls’ Primary School saw the largest year-on-year increase in monthly rent, growing by 20% and 21.5% respectively, with median rents reaching S$3,300 and S$4,375.
Two-bedroom private homes near Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) and three-bedroom units near Methodist Girls’ School (Primary) ranked second in rental growth, increasing by 18.4% and 17.5% respectively. Their median monthly rents reached S$6,200 and S$4,700.
These three schools are all located in the Core Central Region (CCR). The two girls’ schools are situated in the prestigious Bukit Timah area, known for its cluster of top schools, while the boys’ school, Anglo-Chinese School (Primary), is in Novena, District 11.
Tao Nan School is the only one located in the Outside Central Region (OCR). The year-on-year rental increases for two- and three-bedroom private homes near the school ranked third, rising by 16.7% and 13.9% respectively, with median rents reaching S$3,500 and S$4,100.
Insufficient Supply of Private Homes to Meet Rental Demand
Preliminary data for May shows that the number of private residential units rented out increased by 11.7% month-on-month, while overall private home rents rose by 18.1%. The rental growth for homes near schools is largely consistent with the overall market, mainly driven by an island-wide shortage of private housing supply. However, transaction volumes in the overall private rental market have been mixed.
Among the schools mentioned, Tao Nan School and Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) saw the largest drop in transaction volume for two-bedroom units, falling by 17.3% and 15.8% respectively. For three-bedroom units, Raffles Girls’ Primary School and Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) experienced the sharpest declines, at nearly 30%. However, rental transaction volumes for Tao Nan School and Methodist Girls’ School (Primary) increased year-on-year by 17.3% and 1.9% respectively.
In addition to the overall shortage of private homes in the rental market, en-bloc sales of private residential developments near primary schools have also tightened rental supply. For instance, Watten Estate, a 140-unit development within one kilometer of Raffles Girls’ Primary School, was sold collectively in October last year.
Leo Kwek, a senior real estate agent at Anjia SG, said: “Amid global economic uncertainty, the inflow of foreign safe-haven funds into our country’s real estate has driven up private home prices and stimulated the resale market. This increase in resale transactions has, to some extent, led to a reduction in available rental units. The nationwide rise in property prices and the trend in the overall private resale market are also reflected in the market for private homes near popular primary schools. After the P1 registration system was revised, the ‘one-kilometer premium effect’ means that buyers of private homes near these schools are typically purchasing for their own stay.”
Registration for the new cohort of Primary 1 students entering next year is already underway in phases. Phase 2A registration closed on July 8, while registrations for Phase 2B and Phase 2C will begin on July 19 and July 27, respectively.
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