The government will look to ensure there is a steady supply of new homes to meet the needs of Singaporeans.
The Ministry of National Development (MND) announced on Friday (16 December) that there will be five confirmed list sites and 10 on the reserve list in the first half 2017 Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme.
These sites are expected to yield up to 7,465 private homes and create 158,080 sq m of commercial space. The supply of private units is similar to the 7,545 units from the second half 2016 GLS Programme.
The five sites on the confirmed list could yield 2,330 private apartments, higher than the supply of 2,170 units from the second half of this year. They are located in Toh Tuck Road, Tampines Avenue 10 (Parcel C), Lorong 1 Realty Park, Serangoon North Avenue 1 and Woodleigh Lane.
“The demand for new housing from prospective home buyers has remained healthy in 2016. The continued supply of residential sites through the GLS Programme will ensure that there is a steady pipeline of new private housing units to meet the needs of our resident population,” said the MND.
Desmond Sim, Head, CBRE Research, Singapore and South East Asia, noted that no commercial site was included in the confirmed list. “This gives enough breathing room to resolve demand and supply imbalance where there is still ample space to be absorbed, as overall occupier demand has been weak across both office and retail space,” he said.
Meanwhile, the reserve list will comprise seven residential sites (including one executive condominium (EC) site), one commercial and residential site and two commercial sites. These sites can offer 5,135 private homes (including 775 EC units) and mostly commercial office space.
“CBRE expects to see some of the smaller reserve list sites triggered, for example the Bartley Road plot. Another noteworthy site is the reserve site at Jiak Kim Street, which will incorporate the former Zouk plot. It now presents a key waterfront site and will probably see the same interest in Martin Place replicated,” said Sim.
“The sole EC site on the reserve list – Sumang Walk – has been carried over from the reserve list of both 1H 2016 and 2H 2016 GLS programmes. Even if it is triggered for sale, the resultant project would only be launched in 2018,” he added.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
