MND raises private housing supply for Confirmed List under H2 2021 GLS Programme

THE government has increased the supply of private housing for the Confirmed List under the H2 2021 Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme by nearly 25 per cent to 2,000 units, after taking into account factors such as the declining inventory of unsold private homes.

The Ministry of National Development (MND) said on Thursday morning that under its H2 2021 GLS Programme, it will offer land that can potentially yield about 2,000 private homes (including executive condominium or EC units), up almost 25 per cent from 1,605 units for the H1 2021 GLS Programme, in what analysts say is one of the steepest increases in the supply of dwelling units since H2 2016.

The GLS Programme for H2 2021 comprises four residential sites on the Confirmed List, including one EC site, which can collectively yield 2,000 units.

On the Reserve List are six residential sites, two white sites and one hotel site at River Valley Road. This works out to another 4,860 private residential units (including EC units), 90,000 square metres gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space and 530 hotel rooms.

Taken together, the Confirmed and Reserve Lists can yield a total of 6,860 units, down from 7,045 units from H1 2021.

Sites on the Reserve List are launched only upon successful application by a developer or when there is sufficient market interest in a site.

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An unnamed developer triggered a white site at Marina View that was on the Reserve List of the H1 2021 GLS Programme by committing to submit a bid at a minimum price of S$1.508 billion. Hence, the 99-year leasehold site - which can yield about 905 private homes, 2,000 sq m GFA of commercial space and 540 hotel rooms - will be released for sale by public tender on June 28.

"The site at Marina View will further inject more homes into the central business district (CBD), supporting the government's vision of making the CBD vibrant after working hours," said Huttons chief executive Mark Yip. "With a hotel component as part of the development, it shows the confidence of the party who triggered the site that global travel will resume soon and it is key to secure a first-mover advantage by acting now."

Two sites - one at Jalan Tembusu and the other at Dairy Farm Walk - were shifted from the Reserve List to the Confirmed List. In May, Huttons predicted that the site at Jalan Tembusu had a high probability of getting triggered for sale with an estimated top bid of between S$1,400 and S$1,500 psf ppr.

Meanwhile, a fresh addition to the GLS Programme is an EC site at Bukit Batok Avenue 8. "This site is near to an earlier tender at Tengah Garden Walk which was just awarded for S$603 psf ppr," noted director (research) at Huttons Asia, Lee Sze Teck. "This site may fetch lower taking into consideration that it is not within walking distance to an MRT station."

Also on the Confirmed List is a site at Lentor Hills Road which can yield 595 residential units, while another parcel at Lentor Hills Road was introduced to the Reserve List. Given the ongoing tender at Lentor Central which closes next month, this could be a calculated move to keep tender bids for Lentor Central measured, Mr Lee added.

MND said: "The unsold inventory of private housing units has declined over the past year amidst strong demand. Nonetheless, even as the economy is recovering from the recession in 2020, there are continued uncertainties in the economic and labour market conditions due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation globally and locally."

As such, it has decided to moderately increase the supply of private housing on the Confirmed List to 2,000 units, it added.

The government said it will continue to monitor economic and property market conditions closely and adjust the supply of future GLS Programmes if needed.

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