Government ramps up private housing supply; offers three EC sites on Confirmed List
To make sure that there suffices supply to satisfy housing demand and to maintain market stability, the government has actually sustained the supply of private property units by offering 8,505 units in the upcoming Confirmed List and Reserved List of the 1H2025 GLS Government Land Sales (GLS) programme 1H2025.
10 plots will be offered under the Confirmed List, comprising 9 non commercial sites, 3 of which are executive condo (EC) plots. The tenth plot is a residential cum commercial site. The 10 sites can produce an approximated 5,030 housing units, consisting of the 980 EC units.
The last time 3 EC plots were released for sale in an one GLS program was in 2H2014 when EC spots in Sembawang Road/Canberra Link, Anchorvale Crescent, and Woodlands Avenue 12 were released for tender. In 1H2014, four EC sites (2 in Yishun, one each in Sembawang and Choa Chu Kang) were introduced for sale via the GLS.
The ramp-up of supply from the GLS programmes has contributed to the stabilisation of the exclusive residential market, as reflected by the constraint in property price drive. Based on the URA private property price index, rate development has moderated to 6.8% in 2023 from 10.6% in 2021 and 8.6% in 2022.
The site of the previous Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society on Dorsett Road, off Rangoon Road, which can generate around 430 units, will even be introduced for sale in 1H2025. A residential and commercial site at Hougang Central, which can generate a brand-new mixed-use development with 835 housing units and over 400,000 sq ft of commercial area, is sold. It will likely be integrated with the Hougang MRT Station on the Northeast Line.
In view of the stiff challenge for EC sites amongst property developers and going up EC land costs, the state has increase the supply of EC sites, with three plots potentially generating 980 units in the Confirmed List of 1H2025. This is a shift from previous GLS programmes since 2018, with just one EC spot offered in each of the half-yearly land sales programmes, notes PropNex.
Following the progressing ramp-up of exclusive housing supply in the GLS programmes over the last 3 years, the supply of exclusive housing units available for sale has increased steadily from 16,100 units at the end of 2021 to around 21,000 units as of end-November 2024.
The Reserve Checklist includes four private residential sites, one commercial site, three White spots and one hotel site, which can possibly generate an added 3,475 private residential units and 199,900 sqm (2.15 million sq ft) gross floor area (GFA) of business spot.
Also on the Confirmed List is the residential plot in Upper Thomson Road (Parcel A), that viewed no quotes when its tender shut in June 2024. Previously, the plot was to provide a mix of non commercial units and long-stay serviced apartments. Of note, the URA has actually provided more flexibility this moment; it claimed that serviced apartment/long-stay serviced house usage would not be mandated for the location however can be permitted subject to approval from technical firms, notes PropNex.
Along with locations in 2 brand-new real estate districts, the majority of the spots are nearby MRT stops, that can interest property developers and property buyers as well, notes Gafoor. “In our view, the most attractive ones are the mixed-use site in Hougang Central (835 units) that will certainly be attached to the Hougang MRT terminal, the Telok Blangah Road plot (740 units) and Dunearn Road (370 units) site in brand-new real estate precincts, and within minutes’ stroll to the MRT stop, in addition to the Lakeside Drive website (575 units) that is right beside the Lakeside MRT station, Jurong Lake Gardens and the Jurong East commercial center.”
Aurelle of Tampines condominium
The 3,475 non commercial units on the Reserve Checklist of 1H2025 are more than the 3,090 units in 2H2024. Including the Reserve List, the general exclusive real estate supply of 8,505 units in 1H2025 is on a level with the 8,140 units in 2H2024.
In terms of residential units for sale, it’s in line with the 5,050 units offered in the Confirmed List of 2H2024. Nevertheless, it’s nearly 60% greater than the average supply on the Confirmed List in each GLS programme from 2021 to 2023.
It was an extraordinary year for GLS tenders. For the first time, URA did not award the tender for three plots – Marina Gardens Crescent, the Jurong Lake District master developer site, and plots in Media Circle (for long-stay serviced apartment use). The URA rejected the proposals offered because they were too low. These spots are now listed on the 1H2025 Reserve Checklist.
The rise in the EC land supply in 1H2025 might “go some way to ease the competition among property developers in land tenders and guide to moderate EC land cost and prices accordingly”, states Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.
Exclusive residential rates are expected to see even more moderate increases in 2024, with the collective price raise over the first three quarters of the year at around 1.6%.
Seven brand-new plots are going to be presented in the 1H2025 GLS programme. They include a plot at Lakeside Drive near the Jurong Lake Gardens in Jurong Lake District, Dunearn Road in the new housing precinct in Bukit Timah Turf City, and Telok Blangah Road on the former Keppel Golf Course site.
