Some 14,000 new homes planned in Sembawang and Woodlands
More than 80% will be set aside for public housing flats, with the first BTO project slated to launch in February 2025
TWO new housing estates offering around 14,000 homes are being planned in Singapore’s northern region, with the first public housing project to be launched in February 2025.
More than 80 per cent of the homes – around 12,000 units – will be set aside for public housing flats, said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee, speaking during the HDB Awards ceremony on Tuesday (Oct 22). The awards recognise the work of architectural and engineering consultants, as well as building contractors in public housing projects.
The move is part of the government’s efforts to maintain a stable supply of homes, to continue meeing broad-based demand and help Singaporeans fulfil their homeownership aspirations, said Lee.
“A sufficient supply of new flats is also crucial to ensure the property market remains stable,” he added.
The estate in Sembawang North – not far from Sembawang Shipyard, which was previously a British naval base – spans a massive 53 hectares (ha). In its vicinity is a cluster of black-and-white bungalows, currently managed by the Singapore Land Authority.
A portion of the land parcel, along Admiralty Road West, is currently occupied by two dormitories for foreign workers, operated by dormitory management company Vobis Enterprise. The Business Times understands that their leases will expire sometime soon.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Tuesday, 12 pm
Property Insights
Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.
In total, the new Sembawang North housing estate is expected to yield close to 10,000 homes, of which about 8,000 will be public housing flats and around 2,000 will be private residences.
The first Build-To-Order (BTO) project in the area is forecast to be launched sometime in 2025.
The Housing and Development Board is also planning new commercial facilities, healthcare services, schools, places of worship, as well as new recreational and green spaces in the area.
The agency said that it will design the housing developments and public spaces of Sembawang North, including playgrounds and precinct pavilions, in keeping with the area’s maritime identity and colonial architecture.
For instance, new BTO projects will feature courtyard layouts, pitched roofs and striking geometric patterns, drawing inspiration from the nearby black-and-white bungalows.
A key component of the new estate will be the Community Wharves Link, a network of pedestrian connections linking upcoming BTO projects, said HDB in a press statement.
Meanwhile, the upcoming Woodlands North Coast estate will stretch across 21 ha and create around 4,000 new public homes.
The first BTO project in the area will be launched in February 2025, with HDB progressively launching the remaining projects in the coming years.
HDB said that BTO projects in the new estate will leverage the area’s natural landscape and hilly terrain, with designs to maximise the views of the nearby Admiralty Park and Woodlands Waterfront Park.
An upcoming 1.9-km-long walking and cycling path, developed by HDB and the National Parks Board, will help enhance accessibility to the Woodlands MRT station and other existing amenities for future residents in the area.
The first phase of constructing the path, which is named WoodsVista Gallery, will be done in tandem with that of a 1,785-unit BTO project in Woodlands, which is expected to be completed in 2026.
Other upcoming projects in the area include the industrial development of Woodlands Regional Centre, a key commercial hub that is predicted to offer 100,000 new jobs, and the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link, which is expected to be completed by end-2026.
Growing demand in the north
Analysts welcomed the move, given the swelling demand for homes in Sembawang and Woodlands.
Christine Sun, OrangeTee Group’s chief researcher and strategist, noted that from 2020 to 2024, some 10,166 flats reached their minimum occupation period in Sembawang, making it the fourth-largest area in terms of the supply of resale flats among all the towns.
Thereafter, there may be a shortfall in the supply of new flats, as very few new projects were launched for sale, said Sun. The last BTO project launched in the area was in 2020 with 2,193 units released. Prior to that, a 2018 BTO project yielded just 310 flats.
“As a result, the lack of (new) housing supply may lead to resale prices increasing faster than anticipated in the future,” she added. For instance, the median price of resale HDB flats in Sembawang was S$570,000 in the first three quarters of this year, up 10.7 per cent from the S$515,000 in the same period in 2022.
Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Realty, said that the upcoming housing supply in Sembawang North will therefore provide a significant 27 per cent boost to the area’s existing housing stock of around 36,000 units.
Meanwhile, Sun noted a consistently healthy demand for homes in Woodlands.
Since 2017, an average of 1,419 new BTO flats have been launched for sale there every year. This year saw the highest number launched at 3,028 units, said Sun.
Application rates for BTO projects in Woodlands have also been “quite healthy” this year, ranging between one and 1.6 times for first-time non-elderly families vying for four-room flats, she noted.
Lim added that some 1,500 three-room and larger flats there were transacted in the first nine months of 2024, just a shade lower than the 1,618 homes sold in the same period last year. In spite of that, median prices of all HDB flats in Woodlands as at the third quarter of 2024 rose between 6 and 12 per cent, from the same period in the previous year, he said.
Currently, at least one-third of the HDB flats in the Woodlands area are 30 years or older, with another 53 per cent between 20 and 29 years old, noted Lim. “The new initiative is poised to rejuvenate this mature town, while increasing its housing supply.”
Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia, believes that four-room flats in the two new housing estates could start from S$350,000, given that the average price of a four-room resale HDB flat in Sembawang was S$590,000 and a similar one in Woodlands was S$540,000 in Q3 2024.
The application rate for these new four-room units, which are likely to be classed as Standard BTO flats, will probably range between two and three times, he added.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
