What Singapore's ageing population could mean for the property market

WHEN a government tender closed last year for a sprawling site along Gibraltar Crescent in Sembawang near Singapore's northern coast for a proposed dementia care village, it drew just one bid, S$15 million. While the concept proposal was acceptable to the authorities, the bid price was deemed too low - resulting in the tender for the 30-year leasehold site not being awarded.

"Perhaps this shows the difficulty of paying full upfront land price for a project that relies on long-term revenue," says JLL Singapore's senior director of research and consultancy, Ong Teck Hui. That the concept had been put out on the market was an acknowledgement that Singapore's rapidly ageing population is throwing up new needs in real estate.

Official data show the percentage of the resident population here that is 65 years and above has risen steadily from 7.2 per cent in 2000 to 9 per cent in 2010 and hit 15.2 per cent in 2020.