Government keeps steady supply of private housing for first half of 2020 land sales p

Government keeps steady supply of private housing for first half of 2020 land sales programme

The total potential supply of private homes from the confirmed and reserve list sites is 6,490, close to the 6,430 previously.

Published 2 hours ago

Grace Leong


SINGAPORE - The Government has kept largely unchanged the amount of private residential housing under the government land sales (GLS) programme for the first half of 2020, in view of the supply overhang and as developers' bids for land moderated after property cooling measures.

"The Government will continue to monitor the property market closely and adjust the supply for future GLS programmes, as necessary," the Ministry of National Development (MND) said in an announcement on Tuesday morning (Dec 3).

The new supply consists of three confirmed list sites and eight reserve list sites that can yield about 6,490 private homes, 114,000 sq m gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space and 1,070 hotel rooms.

The private home supply of 1,775 units from the confirmed list sites is 60 units or 3.5 per cent more than the 1,715 units from the same type of sites under the GLS programme for the second half of 2019.

For sites on the reserve list, which may not be triggered for sale, the new supply is 4,715 units, the same as for the second half of 2019.

The total potential supply of private homes from the confirmed and reserve list sites is 6,490, close to the 6,430 previously.

"While the demand for private housing units has increased in the past two quarters, the overall transaction volume has remained modest relative to the period leading up to the introduction of the property market cooling measures," MND said.

Meanwhile, developers’ demand for residential land remains moderate and there continues to be bidding interest for GLS tenders, it added.

Furthermore, the supply of private housing units in the pipeline remains high, at around 39,000 units currently, even though it has declined progressively over the past few quarters, MND noted.

This pipeline supply comprises around 34,000 unsold units from GLS and collective sale sites with planning approval, and an additional 5,000 units from sites that are pending planning approval. it added.

Therefore, the Government has decided to keep the supply of private residential units on the confirmed list for the 1H2020 GLS programme broadly similar to that for the 2H2019 GLS programme, MND said.

The three confirmed list comprises two private residential sites - including one executive condominium (EC) site in Yishun - and one commercial and residential site in Jalan Anak Bukit in Bukit Timah which can yield about 1,775 private homes (including 600 EC units) and 22,000 sq m GFA of commercial space.

The reserve list comprises four private residential sites (including one EC site), three white sites and one hotel site. These sites can yield about 4,715 private residential units (including 595 EC units), 92,000 sq m GFA of commercial space and 1,070 hotel rooms.

The total amount of commercial space available from both confirmed and reserve sites at 114,000 sq m is 24 per cent higher than the 92,000 sq m for the GLS programme in the second half of 2019. The bulk of new commercial space comes from the 78,000 sq m from a reserve list, multi-use white site in Woodlands Regional Centre.

It is one of four residential sites, three white sites and one hotel site that have been carried over to the first-half 2020 GLS programme from the previous half-year.