Government ramps up private housing supply; offers three EC sites on Confirmed List
To guarantee that there is adequate supply to satisfy real estate need and to keep market balance, the government has actually sustained the supply of nonpublic 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.
The Reserve Checklist includes four exclusive residence locations, one business site, 3 White sites and one hotel site, that can probably yield an extra 3,475 private residential units and 199,900 sqm (2.15 million sq ft) gross floor area (GFA) of business space.
The ramp-up of supply from the GLS programmes has actually added to the stabilisation of the private household market, as shown by the moderation in property rate momentum. Based on the URA private property price index, price expansion has regulated to 6.8% in 2023 from 10.6% in 2021 and 8.6% in 2022.
Seven brand-new plots are going to be presented in the 1H2025 GLS programme. They include a plot at Lakeside Drive around 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 former Keppel Golf Course area.
Private non commercial costs are anticipated to see even more moderate growths in 2024, with the collective rate surge over the first three quarters of the year at about 1.6%.
The site of the former Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society on Dorsett Road, off Rangoon Road, which can yield around 430 units, will even be released for sale in 1H2025. A residential and commercial site at Hougang Central, that can produce a brand-new mixed-use property development with 835 housing units and over 400,000 sq ft of commercial space, is offered for sale. It will likely be incorporated with the Hougang MRT Station on the Northeast Line.
The last time 3 EC plots were released for sale in a single GLS programme was in 2H2014 when EC spots in Sembawang Road/Canberra Link, Anchorvale Crescent, and Woodlands Avenue 12 were released for tender. In 1H2014, 4 EC sites (2 in Yishun, one each in Sembawang and Choa Chu Kang) were released available for sale through the GLS.
In view of the rigid challenge for EC sites amongst property developers and going up EC land prices, the government has actually increase the supply of EC sites, with three plots potentially generating 980 units in the Confirmed Checklist of 1H2025. This is a shift from previous GLS programs since 2018, with only one EC area presented in each of the half-yearly land sales programmes, notes PropNex.
Ten plots are going to be supplied under the Confirmed List, making up nine residential sites, 3 of which are executive condo (EC) plots. The tenth plot is a housing cum commercial site. The 10 sites can yield an estimated 5,030 household units, featuring the 980 EC units.
In addition to spots in 2 new real estate districts, most of the spots are close to MRT terminals, which can attract developers and property buyers as well, 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 attached to the Hougang MRT station, the Telok Blangah Roadway plot (740 units) and Dunearn Road (370 units) site in brand-new housing precincts, and within minutes’ walk to the MRT station, along with the Lakeside Drive site (575 units) which is right beside the Lakeside MRT station, Jurong Lake Gardens and the Jurong East commercial center.”
Additionally on the Confirmed Listing is the residential plot in Upper Thomson Road (Parcel A), that viewed no bids when its tender closed in June 2024. Previously, the plot was to offer a blend of residential units and long-stay serviced apartments. Of note, the URA has provided more flexibility this time around; it stated that serviced apartment/long-stay serviced apartment usage would not be mandated for the spot but can be permitted based on authorization from technical companies, notes PropNex.
The 3,475 residential units on the Reserve Listing of 1H2025 are more than the 3,090 units in 2H2024. Consisting Of the Reserve List, the overall exclusive real estate supply of 8,505 units in 1H2025 is on a par with the 8,140 units in 2H2024.
In regards to household units for sale, it’s in line with the 5,050 units provided in the Confirmed List of 2H2024. However, it’s just about 60% higher than the regular source 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 property developer site, and plots in Media Circle (for long-stay serviced apartment use). The URA declined the bids offered because they were too low. These locations are currently listed on the 1H2025 Reserve Checklist.
The rise in the EC land source in 1H2025 can “go some way to lighten the competition among developers in land tenders and assist to moderate EC land cost and prices as necessary”, says Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.
Following the progressive ramp-up of private real estate supply in the GLS programmes over the last three years, the supply of exclusive residential units available for sale has increased progressively from 16,100 units at the end of 2021 to around 21,000 units since end-November 2024.
