Government ramps up private housing supply; offers three EC sites on Confirmed List
Exclusive residential costs are anticipated to see even more moderate increases in 2024, with the collective price surge over the first three quarters of the year at about 1.6%.
The ramp-up of supply from the GLS programmes has actually added to the stabilisation of the private household market, as reflected by the constraint in property rate drive. Based on the URA private residential property price index, price expansion has moderated to 6.8% in 2023 from 10.6% in 2021 and 8.6% in 2022.
In view of the tight competition for EC locations among developers and rising EC land rates, the government 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 programmes since 2018, with only one EC spot offered in each of the half-yearly land sales programmes, notes PropNex.
Following the progressive ramp-up of exclusive real estate supply in the GLS programmes over the last 3 years, the inventory of exclusive housing units available for sale has increased continuously from 16,100 units at the end of 2021 to around 21,000 units as of end-November 2024.
The 3,475 residential units on the Reserve Checklist of 1H2025 are greater than the 3,090 units in 2H2024. Consisting Of the Reserve Lineup, the general private real estate supply of 8,505 units in 1H2025 is on a level with the 8,140 units in 2H2024.
The last time three EC plots were released for sale in an one 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, four EC sites (two in Yishun, one each in Sembawang and Choa Chu Kang) were launched available for sale using the GLS.
The Reserve List includes four private housing locations, one commercial location, three White sites and one hotel site, that can potentially yield an extra 3,475 private residential units and 199,900 sqm (2.15 million sq ft) gross floor area (GFA) of commercial place.
In terms of residential units for sale, it’s in line with the 5,050 units used in the Confirmed List of 2H2024. Nonetheless, it’s almost 60% greater than the standard source on the Confirmed List in each GLS programme from 2021 to 2023.
The rise in the EC land source in 1H2025 could “go some way to soothe the opposition among developers in land tenders and help to moderate EC land cost and prices as necessary”, claims Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.
Ten plots are going to be supplied under the Confirmed List, consisting of nine residential sites, three of which are executive condominium (EC) plots. The tenth plot is a housing cum commercial site. The 10 sites can yield an estimated 5,030 household units, consisting of the 980 EC units.
To make sure that there is adequate supply to satisfy housing need and to preserve market stability, the authorities has sustained the supply of private household units by supplying 8,505 units in the upcoming Confirmed List and Reserved List of the 1H2025 GLS Government Land Sales (GLS) program 1H2025.
7 brand-new plots will be introduced in the 1H2025 GLS programme. They include a plot at Lakeside Drive nearby the Jurong Lake Gardens in Jurong Lake District, Dunearn Road in the brand-new housing development in Bukit Timah Turf City, and Telok Blangah Road on the previous Keppel Golf Course area.
Also on the Confirmed Listing is the non commercial plot in Upper Thomson Road (Parcel A), that observed no proposals when its tender shut in June 2024. Previously, the plot was to offer a blend of non commercial units and long-stay serviced apartments. Of note, the URA has supplied even more versatility this moment; it stated that serviced apartment/long-stay serviced house use would not be mandated for the spot however can be allowed based on approval from technical agencies, notes PropNex.
The location of the former Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society on Dorsett Road, off Rangoon Road, which can yield about 430 units, will also be launched for sale in 1H2025. A residential and commercial site at Hougang Central, that can yield a new mixed-use development with 835 housing units and over 400,000 sq ft of commercial area, is sold. It will likely be incorporated with the Hougang MRT Terminal on the Northeast Line.
It was an unmatched 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 turned down the proposals offered because they were too reasonable. These spots are currently listed on the 1H2025 Reserve Listing.
Along with locations in two brand-new real estate precincts, most of the sites are close to MRT stops, which can entice property developers and property buyers alike, notes Gafoor. “In our view, one of the most tempting ones are the mixed-use site in Hougang Central (835 units) that will be connected to the Hougang MRT terminal, 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 terminal, along with the Lakeside Drive site (575 units) which is right beside the Lakeside MRT station, Jurong Lake Gardens and the Jurong East commercial hub.”
