Government ramps up private housing supply; offers three EC sites on Confirmed List
To make sure that there is adequate supply to satisfy housing need and to keep market balance, the authorities has actually sustained the supply of exclusive household units by offering 8,505 units in the upcoming Confirmed List and Reserved List of the 1H2025 GLS Government Land Sales (GLS) programme 1H2025.
10 plots are going to be supplied under the Confirmed List, consisting of 9 housing locations, 3 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.
The rise in the EC land supply in 1H2025 might “go some way to lighten the competition amongst developers in land tenders and assist to moderate EC land cost and prices as necessary”, states Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.
The Reserve Listing consists of four exclusive housing sites, one business location, 3 White sites and one hotel site, which can possibly generate an added 3,475 private residential units and 199,900 sqm (2.15 million sq ft) gross floor area (GFA) of commercial place.
The 3,475 residential units on the Reserve Checklist of 1H2025 are higher than the 3,090 units in 2H2024. Including the Reserve List, the general private housing supply of 8,505 units in 1H2025 is on a the same level with the 8,140 units in 2H2024.
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 price momentum. Based on the URA private property price index, rate development has actually moderated to 6.8% in 2023 from 10.6% in 2021 and 8.6% in 2022.
Following the progressing ramp-up of private housing supply in the GLS programmes over the last 3 years, the supply of private housing units available up for sale has increased continuously from 16,100 units at the end of 2021 to around 21,000 units since end-November 2024.
The last time 3 EC plots were released for sale in a sole GLS program 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 released for sale via the GLS.
In view of the rigid challenge for EC sites amongst property developers and going up EC land prices, the government has ramped up the supply of EC sites, with 3 plots potentially generating 980 units in the Confirmed List of 1H2025. This is a shift from previous GLS programmes ever since 2018, with only one EC site presented in each of the semiannual land sales programmes, notes PropNex.
Exclusive household rates are expected to see more moderate increases in 2024, with the cumulative rate increase over the first 3 quarters of the year at around 1.6%.
In terms of household units for sale, it’s in line with the 5,050 units used in the Confirmed List of 2H2024. However, it’s nearly 60% higher than the standard source 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 around the Jurong Lake Gardens in Jurong Lake District, Dunearn Road in the new housing development in Bukit Timah Turf City, and Telok Blangah Road on the former Keppel Golf Course area.
Additionally on the Confirmed Listing is the residential plot in Upper Thomson Road (Parcel A), which viewed no bids when its tender shut in June 2024. In the past, the plot was to offer a mix of non commercial units and long-stay serviced apartments. Of note, the URA has actually provided even more versatility this moment; it claimed that serviced apartment/long-stay serviced house usage would not be mandated for the location however can be permitted based on authorization from technical firms, notes PropNex.
The spot of the former 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, which can generate a new mixed-use project with 835 residential units and over 400,000 sq ft of commercial room, is marketed. It will likely be incorporated with the Hougang MRT Stop on the Northeast Line.
Along with spots in two new real estate precincts, most of the spots are close to MRT stations, which could entice property developers and homebuyers as well, notes Gafoor. “In our view, one of the most tempting ones are the mixed-use site in Hougang Central (835 units) that will certainly be attached to the Hougang MRT terminal, the Telok Blangah Road plot (740 units) and Dunearn Road (370 units) site in new real estate precincts, and within mins’ stroll to the MRT stop, as well as the Lakeside Drive website (575 units) that is right alongside the Lakeside MRT station, Jurong Lake Gardens and the Jurong East business center.”
It was an unprecedented 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 quotes used because they were too low. These spots are currently listed on the 1H2025 Reserve List.
