Singapore trims private housing land supply on confirmed list amid economic headwinds

SINGAPORE – Private housing supply on the confirmed list of the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme for the next six months will fall by 6.1 per cent to 4,725 units, a move that analysts attribute to the uncertain economic climate. But supply on the reserve list will increase, said the Ministry of National Development on June 13. Reserve list sites are launched for sale when a developer offers a minimum price that the Government accepts, or when there is enough market interest. Ms Tricia Song, CBRE’s head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia, noted that raising the reserve list supply “is an appropriate response that takes into account slower home sales since April, and still-rising prices amid a tentative macroeconomic climate”.

“Developers’ bids in recent land tenders have also been measured,” she added. Mr Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at Mogul.sg, said the latest dip in the confirmed list supply may be in response to growing economic headwinds and labour market uncertainty. Huttons Asia senior director of data analytics Lee Sze Teck noted that although the supply fell 6.1 per cent to 4,725 units – down from 5,030 in the first half of the year – this is still much higher than the land supply from 2015 to 2023.

A total of 22 sites under the GLS programme were announced on June 13. The 10 sites on the confirmed list and 12 on the reserve list will yield about 9,200 private residential units, up from 8,505 in the first half of the year.

A total of 178,315 sq m of gross floor area (GFA) in commercial space and 880 hotel rooms will also be made available. Including the two executive condominium (EC) sites on the confirmed list – Woodlands Drive 17 and Miltonia Close – the total number of EC plots in 2025 increases to five, well above the annual norm of about two EC sites in recent years, PropNex said.

The five EC sites can yield nearly 2,000 units, the highest since 2014. Of these, 990 units are from Woodlands Drive and Miltonia Close in Yishun.

As at April 2025, there were just 50 unsold new EC units on the market, PropNex chief executive Ismail Gafoor said. “With more EC sites offered in 2025, that should help to assuage the strong competition, and hopefully keep bids from rising sharply.” The other confirmed list sites are in Dover Road, Dunearn Road, Bukit Timah Road, Bedok Rise, Dairy Farm Walk, Tanjong Rhu Road, Kallang Avenue and Lentor Central. Knight Frank Singapore research head Leonard Tay noted that these sites are located in the prime and suburban submarkets, with a notable boost in EC offerings.

ERA Singapore chief executive Marcus Chu said: “The continued release of private housing supply aims to moderate recent bullish land bids in selected locations that have seen overwhelming interest. The release of sites such as Dunearn Road and Woodlands Drive 17 could ease competition for nearby sites and moderate bids.” The Woodlands Drive 17 site, located near Woodlands South MRT station, is the fourth EC site launched in the north. Developers will likely take their cue from bids for another Woodlands Drive EC site, whose tender closes in August, Mr Chu added.

Sites that could see more competitive bidding include the one in Dover Road near the one-north MRT station. Projects on this site are likely to appeal to renters, including international students attending nearby institutions such as NUS and Insead’s Asia campus, as well as professionals working in the adjacent science parks, Mr Tay said. The Dover site, which has the highest estimated residential yield of 625 units and 3,000 sq m of commercial space, could help address the housing shortage in the area, Huttons’ Mr Lee said.

Another attractive site is the Bedok Rise one, near Tanah Merah MRT station. It is the last available site near the MRT station, following the sale of the Tanah Merah Kechil Link site (now Sceneca Residence) in November 2020, Mr Gafoor said. Mr Tay noted that the Tanjong Rhu Road site could attract healthy home buyer interest, as it has been nearly three decades since a GLS site was launched in the area. The last site in the Tanjong Rhu precinct – now Water Place condominium – was awarded in November 1997. The reserve list comprises six private residential sites, one commercial site, three white sites – which allow for a mix of uses – and two hotel sites. These sites can yield an additional 4,475 private homes, up from 3,475 units in the first half of 2025, as well as 173,800 sq m of commercial GFA and 880 hotel rooms, said the Ministry of National Development. The white sites for mixed-use developments in Jurong Lake District and Woodlands Avenue 2, as well as the short-term lease commercial site in Punggol Walk, have been carried over from the reserve list in the first half of 2025. To support vibrancy in the Central Business District, a new hotel site at Telok Ayer Street will be added to the reserve list. The plot is planned for mixed-use development comprising hotel rooms, long-stay serviced apartments and retail spaces.

— The Straits Times, “Singapore trims private housing land supply on confirmed list amid economic headwinds”, Jun 13, 2025

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/housing/singapore-trims-private-housing-land-supply-on-confirmed-list-amid-economic-headwinds