Singapore further raises private housing supply to highest in 10 years

SINGAPORE: Singapore has increased the private housing supply on the Confirmed List of the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme for the second half of the year to 5,160 units, up from 4,090 in the first six months.

The total of 9,250 units for the whole of 2023 is the highest in a decade. It is also nearly 50 per cent higher than the supply in 2022, and around 2.5 times that of 2021.

The GLS for the second half of 2023 comprises eight Confirmed List sites and nine Reserve List sites, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in a news release on Wednesday (Jun 21)  

All eight Confirmed List sites are private residential sites, including one for an Executive Condominium (EC). In total, they can also yield 4,900 sq m gross floor area of commercial space. The new sites introduced are on Orchard Boulevard, Upper Thomson Road and Zion Road. 

This latest injection will take the total pipeline supply of private housing, including ECs, to about 63,500 units and "cater to resilient demand", said URA. 

The figure comprises 50,200 units with planning approval, 13,300 units from GLS sites and awarded en-bloc sites that have yet to be granted planning approval. 

About 40,400 units would be completed between 2023 and 2025, which is more than double the units completed from 2020 to 2022. 

This forms part of the total supply of about 100,000 public and private housing units to be completed between 2023 and 2025.

"With the collective sales market staying anemic, the government has stepped up its supply of land to meet strong demand for housing in its 2H2023 GLS Programme," said Huttons Asia's senior director of research Lee Sze Teck.

He expects the sites on the Confirmed List to attract keen interest from developers.

"Many of the sites are either directly connected to a MRT station or within a short walk to a MRT station. Several are in new locations where there had not been any supply for many years," he said.

OrangeTee & Tie's senior vice president of research and analytics Christine Sun said that the release of more land parcels helps assure buyers that there is sufficient private home supply. 

"The increase in home supply may help to moderate price increases and stabilise the market in the long run," she said. 

Mr Lam Chern Woon, head of research and consulting at Edmund Tie, said the choice of prime sites was "carefully calibrated to ensure that supply is not excessive". 

"The greater injection of supply complements earlier measures to raise public housing supply and reduce waiting times to meet the growing housing needs of the population," he added.

"With the exception of one site (Orchard Boulevard), the rest of the sites could each yield at least 500 dwelling units."

RESERVE LIST

Planned and announced every six months, GLS Programmes release state land for private development. 

Land on the Confirmed List is launched for sale at pre-determined dates, with most land parcels sold through tenders.

Land on the Reserve List, meanwhile, is not released for tender immediately, but is made available for application. A Reserve List site is put up for tender when a developer indicates a minimum price which is accepted by the government.

All nine sites on the Reserve List for the first half of 2023 will be carried over to the 2H2023 GLS Programme, said URA. 

It consists of six private residential sites, one commercial site, one white site and one hotel site. These could yield an additional 3,430 private residential units (including 855 EC units), 93,350 sq m gross floor area of commercial space and 530 hotel rooms.

"The government will continue to monitor economic and property market conditions  closely and calibrate the supply of future GLS Programmes, as necessary, to help meet demand and promote market stability," said URA.