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 government has actually maintained the supply of nonpublic residential 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 supplied under the Confirmed List, comprising nine housing sites, three of which are executive condominium (EC) plots. The tenth plot is a housing cum commercial area. The 10 sites can produce an approximated 5,030 residential units, including the 980 EC units.
The 3,475 non commercial units on the Reserve Checklist of 1H2025 are higher than the 3,090 units in 2H2024. Including the Reserve List, the overall private housing supply of 8,505 units in 1H2025 is on a the same level with the 8,140 units in 2H2024.
The increase in the EC land supply in 1H2025 might “go some way to ease the competition amongst developers in land tenders and help to moderate EC land cost and prices as necessary”, says Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.
The Reserve Listing consists of 4 exclusive residential sites, one commercial site, 3 White spots and one hotel site, which can potentially produce an additional 3,475 private residential units and 199,900 sqm (2.15 million sq ft) gross floor area (GFA) of business place.
Private residential rates are expected to see more modest growths in 2024, with the cumulative price increase over the first 3 quarters of the year at about 1.6%.
In regards to residential units for sale, it’s in line with the 5,050 units used in the Confirmed List of 2H2024. Nevertheless, it’s nearly 60% more than the regular supply on the Confirmed List in each GLS programme from 2021 to 2023.
The last time three EC plots were released for sale in an one GLS programme remained in 2H2014 when EC spots in Sembawang Road/Canberra Link, Anchorvale Crescent, and Woodlands Avenue 12 were launched for tender. In 1H2014, four EC sites (2 in Yishun, one each in Sembawang and Choa Chu Kang) were launched available for sale by means of the GLS.
Following the progressing ramp-up of private real estate supply in the GLS programs over the last 3 years, the inventory of private residential units offered for sale has actually increased steadily from 16,100 units at the end of 2021 to around 21,000 units since end-November 2024.
The ramp-up of supply from the GLS programmes has actually contributed to the stabilisation of the personal residential market, as shown by the constraint in property cost momentum. Based on the URA private property price index, cost expansion has regulated to 6.8% in 2023 from 10.6% in 2021 and 8.6% in 2022.
In view of the stiff challenge for EC sites among property developers and going up EC land costs, the government has 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 ever since 2018, with only one EC spot presented in each of the semiannual land sales programmes, notes PropNex.
7 new plots are going to be presented in the 1H2025 GLS program. They include a plot at Lakeside Drive nearby the Jurong Lake Gardens in Jurong Lake District, Dunearn Road in the brand-new real estate precinct in Bukit Timah Turf City, and Telok Blangah Road on the previous Keppel Golf Course area.
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 rejected the proposals offered because they were too low. These locations are now listed on the 1H2025 Reserve Checklist.
In addition to spots in 2 new real estate districts, most of the spots are near MRT stations, that might appeal to builders and buyers as well, notes Gafoor. “In our sight, the most tempting ones are the mixed-use site in Hougang Central (835 units) that will certainly be connected to the Hougang MRT terminal, the Telok Blangah Road plot (740 units) and Dunearn Road (370 units) site in brand-new real estate districts, and within minutes’ stroll to the MRT station, in addition to the Lakeside Drive website (575 units) which is right beside the Lakeside MRT terminal, Jurong Lake Gardens and the Jurong East business center.”
Additionally on the Confirmed Checklist is the non commercial plot in Upper Thomson Road (Parcel A), that viewed no bids when its tender finalized in June 2024. Previously, the plot was to provide a blend of non commercial units and long-stay serviced apartments. Of note, the URA has actually supplied even more versatility this time; it claimed that serviced apartment/long-stay serviced house use would not be mandated for the spot but can be enabled subject to approval from technical firms, notes PropNex.
The site of the previous Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society on Dorsett Road, off Rangoon Road, which can produce about 430 units, will even be launched for sale in 1H2025. A residential and commercial site at Hougang Central, that can generate a brand-new mixed-use property development with 835 housing units and over 400,000 sq ft of commercial space, is sold. It will likely be incorporated with the Hougang MRT Station on the Northeast Line.
