The Ministry of National Development (MND) said on Thursday (Jun 11) that it has launched four Confirmed List sites and 13 Reserve List sites under the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme for the second half of 2015.
The Confirmed List sites comprise three private residential sites at Alexandra View, Clementi Avenue 1 and Siglap Road, and an Executive Condominium (EC) site at Yio Chu Kang Road.
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Together, the four sites will provide 2,130 private residential units, including 520 EC units, the press release said. This is a third lower than the 3,020 units offered in the first half of the year under the land sales programme, and the 3,915 units in the second half of 2014.
Confirmed List sites go on sale regardless of interest from developers, while Reserve List sites are triggered for a public tender only if a developer makes an acceptable opening offer.
Under the Reserve List, there are eight private residential sites at Stirling Road, New Upper Changi Road/Bedok South Avenue 3, Bartley Road/Jalan Bunga Rampai, Lorong Lew Lian, Tampines Avenue 10, Margaret Drive, Jalan Kandis, and an EC site at Sumang Walk.
There are also two commercial and residential mixed sites at Holland Road and Bukit Batok West Avenue 6, and two commercial sites at Beach Road and Woodlands Square.
A White site in Marina Bay at Central Boulevard is also part of the Reserve List. MND said the White site will complete the street block along Shenton Way and enhance pedestrian connectivity in the existing Marina Bay office cluster.
Sites on the Reserve List can yield about 5,695 private residential units, and 275,580 sqm Gross Floor Area in commercial space, mostly for office use. MND said the supply of private housing and commercial space from the GLS programme will be adequate to meet demand for the next few years.
The amount of land available in the second half 2015 GLS programme is less than what was offered in the first half, when there were six Confirmed List sites and 13 Reserve List sites. The Confirmed List comprised six private residential sites, including one EC site, which can yield about 3,020 private residential units including 490 EC units.
CUTBACK NOT A SURPRISE: ANALYSTS
Housing analysts said the cutback in supply does not come as a surprise.
Mr Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Realty, said: “In the past few years, there was a ramp up in the supply of land that has been put on the market. And so if you total up the total number of units with the existing supply, it’s 84,000 units in the pipeline (now).
“So that’s actually a huge pipeline of residential units that could come on stream over the next few years. So I think the slowdown is expected and welcomed by everyone who is concerned about an oversupply.”
Said Mr Desmond Sim, head of research for South East Asia and Singapore at CBRE: “The Government has been holding back on these new sites for lease because I am sure they are aware of the backlog of unsold stock that has grown over the past two to three quarters. So this backlog of unsold stock is expected to taper down to a much healthier level before we can expect more land to be put up for sale.
“But nonetheless, if the market requires land to develop, they can easily go into the Reserve List and trigger a site from there.”
About 19,000 units remained unsold at the end of March, up from the 16,587 units in December, and 17,644 in September. As to which parcel will attract the most interest, property watchers point to the plot at Alexandra Road.
It is favoured due to its location near the Redhill MRT station. Analysts also said the development is likely to be popular among both owner-occupiers and investors as the building will also house commercial shops on the ground floor.
As for land supply on the commercial front, no sites have been put on the Confirmed List this time round. But property watchers said the newly-added White site at Marina Bay on the Reserve List is likely to generate strong interest from developers, due to a lack of new office space in the Central Business District (CBD) area.
“There is close to 3.5, 3.6 million square feet of office stock coming on stream in end 2016,” said Mr Sim. “The state would definitely take that into consideration and that is why we do not see many commercial stock coming in. But if you look given a development period of four to five years, based on MBFC, based on Marina One, there should be no CBD stock coming all the way until 2020. So I would not be surprised that the new site in Central Boulevard would garner interest from developers.”
The National Development Ministry said the release of this site will facilitate the “expansion of the Central Business District at Marina Bay”.
The closely-watched mixed development site at Holland Road also remains on the Reserve List, after being transferred from the Confirmed List in the second half of 2014.
The site is estimated to offer about 580 private residential units and 13,500 sqm of commercial space.
Holland Village has been highlighted as one of the areas for rejuvenation under the Government’s latest Master Plan 2014.
Analysts said there has been keen interest in the site from industry players, but authorities are likely to take more time to deliberate on the proposals. The area has also been designated as an identity node – this means Holland Village’s unique character and charm will have to be retained in future development plans.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 11 Jun 2015