Government reduces supply of land for private housing as demand continues to slow

SINGAPORE — The Government has decided to reduce the supply of private residential units for the second half of 2019, as demand continues to fall, the Ministry of National Development (MND) announced on Thursday (Jun 6).

Thirteen land sites, comprising five confirmed sites and eight reserved sites, were released for sale on Thursday under the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme for the second half of 2019.

The sites can yield 6,430 private homes, a slight dip from the previous GLS programme for the first half of 2019, which saw 14 sites released with an expected supply of 6,475.

The 13 sites are also expected to yield 92,000 sq m gross floor area of commercial space and 1,100 hotel rooms.

The five confirmed list sites are private residential sites - including one executive condominium (EC) site - which can yield about 1,715 private residential units, MND said. These include 480 EC units.

The number of units that these confirmed sites can yield is 15 per cent (or 310 units) fewer than the 2,025 units that could be yielded from confirmed sites in the previous GLS programme.

They are at: 

• Bartley Road/ Jalan Bunda Rampai

• Irwell Bank Road

• Canberra Drive (Two parcels)

• Fernvale Lane (EC)

The reserve list comprises four private residential sites, including one EC site.

They are at: 

• Dairy Farm Walk

• Dunman Road

• Hillview Rise

• Tampines Street 62 (EC)

These sites can yield about 4,715 private residential units - including 595 EC units and about 1,000 units from the first phase of the upcoming Kampong Bugis site.

The decline in demand follows the introduction of property market cooling measures in July last year. Overall transaction volume fell for the third straight quarter in the first quarter on 2019, while developers’ demand for land also moderated.

Additionally, there are about 44,000 private homes in the pipeline. This includes about 39,000 unsold units from GLS and en-bloc sale sites with planning approval and 5,000 from sites pending planning approval.

Another 24,000 existing private homes remain vacant.

“Given these factors, the Government has decided to reduce the supply of private residential units on the confirmed list for the GLS Programme," MND said.

"Together with the supply in the pipeline, the supply for the 2H2019 GLS programme will sufficiently cater to the housing needs of our population."

It added: “The Government will continue to monitor the property market closely and adjust the supply from future GLS programmes, as necessary.” CNA

For more stories like this, visit CNA.asia.