Land supply increase may not be enough
More development sites will be available to meet the demand for land from developers keen to capitalise on a recovering property market.
But analysts warn that the slight uptick in supply for the next six months may not be enough to satisfy developers, who have been aggressively bidding for sites recently.
There are 16 sites on the Government Land Sales programme for the second half of the year. These can yield up to 8,125 private homes, up from the 7,465 units offered in the first half, the Ministry of National Development said yesterday.
It noted that there is a need for more residential sites to ensure there is an "adequate pipeline supply of new private housing units to meet the needs of our population", given that the demand for new homes has continued to rise in recent months.
Market watchers described the latest allocation as "conservative" and possibly inadequate to meet developer demand. Mr Ong Teck Hui, national director for research and consultancy at JLL, said: "Developers could be steered towards triggering sites on the reserve list and sourcing from the collective sales market."
Four of the six sites on the confirmed list are for residential - in Chong Kuo Road, off Sembawang Road; Handy Road in the city; Hillview Rise in Upper Bukit Timah; and Sumang Walk in Punggol, which is for executive condominiums. There are also two mixed-use sites, in Holland Road and Sengkang Central. In total, the confirmed sites can accommodate 2,840 private residential units - up by 22 per cent from this half of the year - and 26,800 sq m gross floor area of commercial space.
Said Cushman & Wakefield research director Christine Li: "The increase of merely 22 per cent... reflects a mixed view on the turnaround of the residential segment and the strength of the recovery."
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