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Singapore cuts private housing supply under H1 2019 land sales programme
The Singapore government has cut the total supply of private residential units for the first-half 2019 Government Land Sales (GLS) programme.
This comes amid a moderation in demand following the latest property market cooling measures announced in July, said the Ministry of National Development (MND) in a statement by the Thursday (6 December).
In the first half of next year (H1 2019), the government plans to release five confirmed list sites and nine reserve list sites through the GLS programme. These sites can yield about 6,475 private residential units, including 910 executive condominium units.
The private housing supply for H1 2019 is about 19.5 per cent less than the 8,040 private residential units announced in the second-half 2018 GLS programme.
28,000 vacant private homes
The supply of private housing units in the pipeline has grown significantly and currently stands at 45,000 units, the MND said. This comprises around 31,000 unsold units from GLS and en-bloc sale sites with planning approval, and an additional 14,000 units from sites that are pending planning approval.
In addition, there are around 28,000 existing private housing units that remain vacant.
The statement added that, following the introduction of the property market cooling measures in July, overall transaction volumes have declined while developers’ demand for land has also moderated.
“Given these factors, the government has decided to moderate the total supply of private residential units for the (H1 2019) GLS Programme,” said the ministry. “Together with the supply in the pipeline, this will sufficiently cater to the housing needs of our population.”
The government will continue to monitor the property market closely and adjust the supply from future GLS programmes, as necessary, said MND.
31% reduction in commercial land supply
Meanwhile, the supply of land for commercial projects was also reduced. The land sites available for H1 2019 can yield 86,000 sq m of commercial space, about 31 per cent less than what was made available in H2 2018.
The government also released land that can yield about 1,115 hotel rooms in H1 2019, compared with 930 in the current half of this year.
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