Government ramps up private housing supply; offers three EC sites on Confirmed List
The ramp-up of supply from the GLS programmes has added to the stabilisation of the private property market, as mirrored by the constraint in property price drive. Based on the URA private residential property price index, rate development has actually moderated to 6.8% in 2023 from 10.6% in 2021 and 8.6% in 2022.
To ensure that there is adequate supply to meet housing need and to keep market stability, the authorities has 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) programme 1H2025.
Following the progressive ramp-up of exclusive housing supply in the GLS programmes over the last 3 years, the inventory of exclusive residential units offered up for sale has increased gradually from 16,100 units at the end of 2021 to around 21,000 units as of end-November 2024.
Private residential costs are expected to see even more moderate growths in 2024, with the cumulative price raise over the first three quarters of the year at around 1.6%.
The last time 3 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 introduced for tender. In 1H2014, four EC sites (two in Yishun, one each in Sembawang and Choa Chu Kang) were introduced for sale using the GLS.
The 3,475 household units on the Reserve List of 1H2025 are greater than the 3,090 units in 2H2024. Consisting Of the Reserve List, the total exclusive housing supply of 8,505 units in 1H2025 is on a the same level with the 8,140 units in 2H2024.
In view of the rigid challenge for EC locations among developers and going up EC land costs, the authorities has ramped up the supply of EC sites, with 3 plots potentially generating 980 units in the Confirmed List of 1H2025. This is a change from previous GLS programmes ever since 2018, with only one EC spot offered in each of the semiannual land sales programmes, notes PropNex.
The Reserve Listing consists of 4 private housing sites, one business site, three White locations and one hotel site, which can possibly 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 increase in the EC land source in 1H2025 can “go some way to ease the competition among developers in land tenders and help to moderate EC land cost and prices as necessary”, says Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.
Ten plots are going to be offered under the Confirmed List, making up 9 housing sites, three of which are executive condo (EC) plots. The tenth plot is a non commercial cum commercial site. The 10 sites can yield an estimated 5,030 housing units, consisting of the 980 EC units.
In terms of residential units for sale, it’s in line with the 5,050 units offered in the Confirmed List of 2H2024. However, it’s nearly 60% more than the standard supply on the Confirmed List in each GLS program from 2021 to 2023.
7 brand-new plots will be introduced 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 housing precinct in Bukit Timah Turf City, and Telok Blangah Road on the former Keppel Golf Course site.
The spot of the previous Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society on Dorsett Road, off Rangoon Road, which can generate about 430 units, will in addition be launched for sale in 1H2025. A residential and commercial site at Hougang Central, which can produce a new mixed-use development with 835 residential units and over 400,000 sq ft of commercial space, is marketed. It will likely be incorporated with the Hougang MRT Terminal on the Northeast Line.
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 refused the bids used 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), which observed no bids when its tender shut 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 even more versatility this time around; it said that serviced apartment/long-stay serviced house use would not be mandated for the location however can be allowed subject to approval from technical agencies, notes PropNex.
Along with locations in 2 new housing districts, most of the sites are close to MRT stations, that can interest property developers and homebuyers as well, notes Gafoor. “In our view, the most tempting ones are the mixed-use site in Hougang Central (835 units) that will 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 minutes’ stroll to the MRT terminal, along with the Lakeside Drive website (575 units) which is right beside the Lakeside MRT terminal, Jurong Lake Gardens and the Jurong East commercial center.”
