BUYERS of resale Housing Board flats found themselves paying $22,000 above the valuation from October to December - a whopping 30 per cent increase more than the previous quarter.

HDB data released on Friday showed that 86 per cent of resale transactions required cash over valuation, while another 900 flats were sold at or below valuation.

The median COV hit $33,500 for executive flats, $26,000 for five-room units, and $22,000 for four-roomers.

Overall resale prices of HDB flats rose 5.7 per cent in the fourth quarter to bring the year's growth to 17.5 per cent. The year's growth is the biggest in a decade.

The number of resale transactions fell 13 per cent to 6,700 from October to December.

Rents for HDB flats continued to rise in the fourth quarter of 2007, with median rentals growing by about 6 to 7 per cent for four-room, five-room and executive flats.

Median monthly rentals of executive units hit $1,800 in the fourth quarter while five-roomers fetched $1,700.

The total number of flats being rented out rose from from 16,200 to 17,400.

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