A majority of properties purchased in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023 were located in the Brunei-Muara District (75 properties), followed by Tutong District (16 properties) and Belait District (nine properties).
The top five mukims that recorded the most purchases of private residential properties in the third quarter of 2023 (Q3 2023) were Sengkurong, Pekan Tutong, Mentiri, Gadong and Lumapas.
This was stated by the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB) in the Brunei Darussalam’s Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) for Q3 2023 released yesterday.
The index is compiled using data sourced from banks in Brunei Darussalam and is published with close cooperation with the Ministry of Development, in particular the Authority for Building Control and Construction Industry (ABCi). RPPI measures the rate at which the prices of private residential properties purchased by households are changing over time.
In Q3 2023, the RPPI was at 97.8, showing an increase of 6.7 per cent year-on-year compared to Q3 2022 and an increase of 5.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter compared to Q2 2023.
Based on mortgage data obtained from banks, there were 100 transactions for private residential properties in Q3 2023, indicating a decrease of 22.5 per cent in the number of transactions compared to Q2 2023 and a decrease of 25.9 per cent compared to a year ago. For Q3 2023, the majority of these transactions were for detached houses (59.0 per cent); followed by semi-detached houses (20.0 per cent); terrace houses (18.0 per cent); and apartments (3.0 per cent). No financing for the purchase of land was reported in Q3 2023.
The overall median purchase price for all types of private residential properties was BND260,000 in Q3 2023, an increase of two per cent compared to Q3 2022 and an increase of 3.2 per cent compared to Q2 2023. The median purchase prices for specific types of properties were BND288,000 for detached houses; BND267,500 for semi-detached houses; BND213,000 for terrace houses; and BND215,000 for apartments, said the central bank.
The median price is widely used compared to the average or mean price in RPPI compilation as it is less influenced by a small number of unusually-priced properties within the house price distribution, it added.
“The published statistics and index should be treated as general information only, and one should not rely solely on these data to draw specific conclusions on a particular private residential property as property values vary with location, land size, floor area and so on.”
