Government ramps up private housing supply; offers three EC sites on Confirmed List
To ensure that there is adequate supply to fulfill housing need and to maintain market stability, the government has actually maintained the supply of nonpublic residential units by supplying 8,505 units in the upcoming Confirmed List and Reserved List of the 1H2025 GLS Government Land Sales (GLS) program 1H2025.
10 plots are going to be offered under the Confirmed List, comprising nine non commercial locations, 3 of which are executive condominium (EC) plots. The tenth plot is a non commercial cum commercial site. The 10 sites can generate an approximated 5,030 housing units, including the 980 EC units.
The spot of the previous Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society on Dorsett Road, off Rangoon Road, that can produce about 430 units, will in addition be introduced for sale in 1H2025. A residential and commercial site at Hougang Central, which can yield a brand-new mixed-use property development with 835 housing units and over 400,000 sq ft of commercial room, is sold. It will likely be integrated with the Hougang MRT Terminal on the Northeast Line.
The last time three EC plots were launched for sale in a single GLS program remained in 2H2014 when EC spots in Sembawang Road/Canberra Link, Anchorvale Crescent, and Woodlands Avenue 12 were introduced for tender. In 1H2014, 4 EC sites (2 in Yishun, one each in Sembawang and Choa Chu Kang) were introduced for sale using the GLS.
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 property developer site, and plots in Media Circle (for long-stay serviced apartment use). The URA rejected the quotes provided because they were too low. These sites are now listed on the 1H2025 Reserve Checklist.
Also on the Confirmed List is the non commercial plot in Upper Thomson Road (Parcel A), that observed no quotes when its tender shut in June 2024. In the past, the plot was to offer a mix of non commercial units and long-stay serviced apartments. Of note, the URA has actually supplied even more flexibility this time; it stated that serviced apartment/long-stay serviced apartment usage would not be mandated for the site but can be allowed subject to authorization from technical firms, notes PropNex.
The increase in the EC land supply in 1H2025 might “go some way to ease the opposition among developers in land tenders and assist to moderate EC land cost and prices appropriately”, says Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.
In view of the stiff competition for EC sites amongst property developers and rising EC land costs, the authorities has actually increase the supply of EC sites, with three plots potentially producing 980 units in the Confirmed List of 1H2025. This is a change from previous GLS programs ever since 2018, with just one EC spot offered in each of the half-yearly land sales programmes, notes PropNex.
Seven brand-new plots are going to be presented in the 1H2025 GLS program. They consist of a plot at Lakeside Drive nearby the Jurong Lake Gardens in Jurong Lake District, Dunearn Road in the brand-new real estate development in Bukit Timah Turf City, and Telok Blangah Road on the previous Keppel Golf Course site.
The ramp-up of supply from the GLS programmes has actually contributed to the stabilisation of the exclusive residential market, as reflected by the moderation in property rate drive. Based on the URA private residential property price index, rate expansion has actually regulated to 6.8% in 2023 from 10.6% in 2021 and 8.6% in 2022.
In regards to residential units for sale, it’s in line with the 5,050 units provided in the Confirmed List of 2H2024. However, it’s almost 60% higher than the average supply on the Confirmed List in each GLS program from 2021 to 2023.
Exclusive household rates are expected to see even more small gains in 2024, with the collective cost increase over the first 3 quarters of the year at about 1.6%.
Along with locations in two brand-new housing districts, most of the sites are nearby MRT stops, which might appeal to developers and homebuyers likewise, notes Gafoor. “In our sight, one of the most attractive ones are the mixed-use site in Hougang Central (835 units) that will certainly be connected to the Hougang MRT station, the Telok Blangah Road plot (740 units) and Dunearn Road (370 units) site in new real estate precincts, and within mins’ stroll to the MRT terminal, in addition to the Lakeside Drive site (575 units) which is right next to the Lakeside MRT terminal, Jurong Lake Gardens and the Jurong East commercial hub.”
The Reserve Checklist consists of 4 exclusive residence sites, one commercial location, 3 White spots and one hotel site, that can potentially generate an added 3,475 private residential units and 199,900 sqm (2.15 million sq ft) gross floor area (GFA) of business spot.
The 3,475 non commercial units on the Reserve Checklist of 1H2025 are greater than the 3,090 units in 2H2024. Including the Reserve Lineup, the general exclusive housing supply of 8,505 units in 1H2025 is on a the same level with the 8,140 units in 2H2024.
Following the progressive ramp-up of personal real estate supply in the GLS programmes over the last three years, the inventory of private residential units offered available for sale has actually increased progressively from 16,100 units at the end of 2021 to around 21,000 units since end-November 2024.
