Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme for first half of 2018 launched with 6 confirmed and 9 reserved list sites

The Government has announced the first half 2018 Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme, which comprises six Confirmed List sites and nine Reserve List sites which can yield about 8,045 private residential units and 63,960 sqm gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space.

In a press release by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA, it said that the six Confirmed List sites are private residential sites, including one Executive Condominium (EC) site, which can yield 2,775 private dwelling units (including 450 EC units) and 4,450 sqm GFA of commercial space.

It then added that the Reserve List comprises eight private residential sites (including two EC sites) and one commercial site, which can yield 5,270 private dwelling units (including 1,255 EC units) and 59,510 sqm GFA of commercial space, mostly for office use.

In working out the supply for the first half 2018 GLS Programme, the Government noted that it had taken into consideration several factors.

"On the one hand, there is strong demand for sites by real estate developers, and a pick-up in transaction volumes. On the other hand, there is a large potential supply of around 20,000 units from awarded en-bloc sale and GLS sites that have not yet been granted planning approval, on top of the around 18,000 unsold units that already have planning approval," it said.

"Moreover, there are more than 30,000 existing private housing units that remain vacant," URA added.

Therefore, on balance, URA said that the Government has decided to keep the total supply of units for 1H2018 at about the same level as the supply of units from the second half 2017 GLS Programme.

"Taken together, the total supply in the pipeline, including the units from the first half 2018 GLS Programme, will be adequate to meet the purchase demand for new private housing from home buyers over the next 1-2 years," it said, adding that when these are completed, the overall stock of private housing will be more than sufficient to meet Singaporeans’ housing needs.

URA noted that the first half 2018 Reserve List will have one site at Woodlands Square for a mixed-use development comprising mainly office space, which will allow developers to initiate the development of more office space if they assess that there is demand.