SUBSCRIBERS

Raising land supply may aggravate housing issues

More residential land can be released, but an unintended consequence may be stiffer fight for labour, materials that lead to higher costs and price increases for homes

Fiona Lam

Published Thu, Jun 3, 2021 · 05:50 AM

Singapore property

Singapore

ADJUSTING the additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) remission deadline on government land sales (GLS) sites and allowing a change of use for hospitality properties may help reduce pressure on housing developers in the short run, amid the construction industry's labour shortage.

Those were the suggestions by Lee Nai Jia, deputy director of the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies (IREUS) at the National University of Singapore, as the foreign workforce in the construction industry continues to shrink while the number of private homes and executive condominiums under construction remains little changed.