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Upcoming Land Supply For 1H 2021 Remains Prudent And Responsive To Housing Demand

Latest Property Real Estate News - Published on 03/12/2020

 Singapore, 03 December 2020 – The Government Land Sales (GLS) programme for the first half of 2021 (GLS 1H 2021), which was announced by the Ministry of National Development today remains prudent, against a backdrop of subdued economic outlook arising from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The upcoming land supply slate comprises four Confirmed List sites and nine Reserve List sites, which can collectively yield about 7,045 private residential units, 101,200 sqm gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space and 1,070 hotel rooms.

Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research and Content at PropNex, said, “Despite the pandemic-led recession, new private home sales have been robust in recent months, driven largely by the strong local end-user demand and HDB upgraders. It appears that the upcoming GLS 1H 2021, while prudent, is also responsive to the underlying housing demand – providing more residential units on both the Confirmed and Reserve Lists this time compared to the GLS 2H 2020.”

The Confirmed List under GLS 1H 2021 comprises four private residential sites - including one Executive Condominium (EC) site - which can yield about 1,605 private residential units and 9,200 sqm GFA of commercial space. The 1,605 residential units provided for in the upcoming Confirmed List land slate is 17.2% higher than the 1,370 units offered in the GLS 2H 2020.

Meanwhile, the Reserve List for 1H 2021 GLS can potentially yield 5,440 residential units – up marginally from the 5,300 units offered in the current land sales programme. Of note, a new residential site in Jalan Tembusu, which can offer 640 residential units was added to the 1H 2021 GLS Reserve List.

Confirmed List sites

Of the four Confirmed List sites, two of them - Slim Barracks Rise (Parcels A and B) – are in the Rest of Central Region (RCR), while the Lentor Central and Tampines Street 62 (Parcel A) (EC) plots are in the Outside Central Region (OCR).

Ms Wong added, “There is keen demand for development sites in the OCR, as seen by the strong land bids for the Tanah Merah Kechil Link and Yishun Avenue 9 (EC) sites in the recent GLS tender. In addition, many sizable projects in the OCR have also been selling units at a steady clip. We think there is room for the government to perhaps add at least another OCR site to the 1H 2021 GLS Confirmed List. Our analysis of the supply and demand patterns suggests that there is a greater imbalance in the OCR where a larger demand pool has helped to absorbed supply in the mass market. Given the tight supply in the OCR, it is likely that prices of mass market homes will remain firm.”

Lentor Central

This site should appeal to developers given its location in a well-established private residential enclave and proximity (estimated at about 180m–200m) to the upcoming Lentor MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line, which is expected to be ready in 2021. In particular, the future development on the site would enjoy unblocked views over the landed property estate in the Lentor area.

New private housing supply in the area has been relatively limited for some years. The last GLS site to be awarded in the area was the plot in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 2 / Ang Mo Kio Street 13, where The Panorama was later built. It was successfully tendered for in January 2013 for $550 million or $790 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr). The 698-unit The Panorama was launched for sale in January 2014 and is 97% sold to-date.

The Lentor Central site, which could yield 610 units may potentially face competition for buyers from the nearby GLS residential site in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 – offering 370 units – that was launched for tender last month.

Slim Barracks Rise (Parcels A and B)

The two residential sites in Slim Barracks Rise – Parcel A and Parcel B; to yield 265 and 140 residential units, respectively – would provide more housing options in the one-north area, further supporting the work-live-play concept in the precinct. The vibrant tech buzz of one-north, Singapore’s R&D and innovation hub has attracted numerous companies to base there, and these two residential sites will potentially cater to the increase in housing demand in the future, as more investments flow into the precinct.

An enlarged population catchment would also create critical mass for developments and amenities in the vicinity, which include Fusionopolis, Star Vista mall, Holland Village, and the upcoming Rochester Commons. The two sites are also located close (about 500m) to the one-north MRT station on the Circle Line.

The two land parcels in Slim Barracks Rise are located opposite the one-north Gateway GLS plot which was awarded in September 2019 at a land price of $155.7 million ($1,001 psf ppr).

Tampines Street 62 (Parcel A) (EC)

There have been no EC GLS sites in Tampines for a number of years since May 2012 (CityLife @ Tampines), until the plot in Tampines Avenue 10 (Parc Central Residences EC) was successfully tendered for $434.5 million ($578 psf ppr) in January 2019.

The latest Tampines Street 62 (Parcel A) (EC) GLS site, which is estimated to be about 900m from the Pasir Ris MRT station on the East-West Line, should appeal to buyers including many HDB upgraders from the sizable HDB estates in Tampines and Pasir Ris.