Government ramps up private housing supply; offers three EC sites on Confirmed List
To ensure that there is adequate supply to satisfy housing need and to preserve market stability, the authorities has actually maintained the supply of private household units by using 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 housing locations, three of which are executive condo (EC) plots. The tenth plot is a residential cum commercial site. The 10 sites can generate an estimated 5,030 household units, consisting of the 980 EC units.
The rise in the EC land source in 1H2025 could “go some way to ease the competition amongst property developers in land tenders and assist to moderate EC land cost and prices as necessary”, says Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.
The 3,475 household units on the Reserve Listing of 1H2025 are greater than the 3,090 units in 2H2024. Consisting Of the Reserve List, the overall exclusive housing supply of 8,505 units in 1H2025 is on a the same level with the 8,140 units in 2H2024.
The Reserve Listing consists of four private residential sites, one business location, three White locations and one hotel site, which can possibly generate an extra 3,475 private residential units and 199,900 sqm (2.15 million sq ft) gross floor area (GFA) of commercial spot.
In view of the stiff challenge for EC sites amongst developers and rising EC land costs, the authorities has ramped up the supply of EC sites, with three plots potentially generating 980 units in the Confirmed Listing of 1H2025. This is a change from previous GLS programs since 2018, with only one EC site presented in each of the half-yearly land sales programmes, notes PropNex.
In regards to residential units for sale, it’s in line with the 5,050 units offered in the Confirmed List of 2H2024. However, it’s just about 60% more than the average supply on the Confirmed List in each GLS programme from 2021 to 2023.
The last time 3 EC plots were launched for sale in a sole GLS programme was in 2H2014 when EC spots in Sembawang Road/Canberra Link, Anchorvale Crescent, and Woodlands Avenue 12 were launched for tender. In 1H2014, 4 EC sites (two in Yishun, one each in Sembawang and Choa Chu Kang) were launched available for sale via the GLS.
Exclusive household rates are expected to see even more modest gains in 2024, with the collective price increase over the first 3 quarters of the year at about 1.6%.
Following the progressive ramp-up of personal housing supply in the GLS programmes over the last three years, the supply of private 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 ramp-up of supply from the GLS programs has added to the stabilisation of the personal household market, as reflected by the constraint in property cost momentum. 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.
7 new plots will be presented in the 1H2025 GLS program. They consist of a plot at Lakeside Drive near the Jurong Lake Gardens in Jurong Lake District, Dunearn Road in the new real estate development in Bukit Timah Turf City, and Telok Blangah Road on the former Keppel Golf Course area.
Also on the Confirmed List is the residential plot in Upper Thomson Road (Parcel A), that viewed no proposals when its tender shut in June 2024. In the past, the plot was to provide a mix of residential units and long-stay serviced apartments. Of note, the URA has provided even more flexibility this time; it said that serviced apartment/long-stay serviced apartment use would not be mandated for the site but can be permitted based on approval from technical agencies, notes PropNex.
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 location, and plots in Media Circle (for long-stay serviced apartment use). The URA refused the bids offered because they were too reasonable. These locations are now listed on the 1H2025 Reserve List.
Along with sites in two new real estate precincts, most of the sites are near MRT stations, that can appeal to developers and property buyers as well, notes Gafoor. “In our sight, the most tempting ones are the mixed-use site in Hougang Central (835 units) that will be attached to the Hougang MRT station, the Telok Blangah Roadway plot (740 units) and Dunearn Road (370 units) site in brand-new real estate precincts, and within mins’ stroll to the MRT stop, as well as the Lakeside Drive site (575 units) which is right beside the Lakeside MRT station, Jurong Lake Gardens and the Jurong East commercial center.”
The spot of the former Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society on Dorsett Road, off Rangoon Road, which can generate about 430 units, will in addition be released for sale in 1H2025. A residential and commercial site at Hougang Central, that can produce a new mixed-use development with 835 residential units and over 400,000 sq ft of commercial area, is marketed. It will likely be incorporated with the Hougang MRT Station on the Northeast Line.
