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SINGAPORE : The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has said there are about 65,400 private residential units in the pipeline.
This was revealed as it announced the government land sales programme for the first half of 2008. A total of 37 land parcels are on the list, including several residential sites in suburban areas like Sembawang.
Property consultants said this could relieve the price pressure on mass market condominiums.
The government land sales list is closely watched, and more so now because of the hot property market and the spike in rentals this year.
There are 11 sites on the Confirmed List - 8 residential, 2 hotels and 1 white site. The Reserve List comprises 26 sites, out of which 11 are new.
Analysts said what is significant is that there are fewer commercial and white sites this time - just 5 compared to 9 in the last batch.
The high profile Beach Road site was won by a City Developments-led consortium this year.
Analysts said the site to look out for next year is the one at Ophir Road/Rochor Road. This site will kickstart the development of the corridor linking to Marina Centre and Bugis.
According to property watchers, it will also create a critical mass of office space in the area. They added that with only three commercial sites released, it is a sign that the government is careful not to create a glut of office space.
"The government has increased the volume of supply quite significantly during the course of this year. We can now assess somewhere in the order 9 to 9.5 million square feet of confirmed supply over the next five years," said Moray Armstrong, Executive Director, CB Richard Ellis.
"At the beginning of this year in January, we could only identify confirmed space of 3.1 million square feet. The supply pipeline has been bolstered and this will relieve hard pressed corporates here," he added.
Also up for development are 21 residential sites which could potentially yield 8,250 homes. Those placed on the Confirmed List includes new sites at Sembawang, Choa Chu Kang, Woodleigh Close and Tampines.
Consultants said this suggests that the government is aware of rising home prices in these areas.
"Even though the number of sites has been reduced slightly, the number of new homes that can be generated has actually increased. I think the government is trying to nip in the bud any kind of sharp increase in home prices in the mass market segments," said Nicholas Mak, Director of Consultancy & Research, Knight Frank.
In its release on Thursday, the URA stressed that more supply is already in the pipeline. 44,500 private residential units are expected in the next three years and another 20,900 beyond that.
In addition, 1.4 million square metres of office space can be expected from various government and private land sources. There are also another 550,000 square metres of shop space and 9,200 hotel rooms in the pipeline.
Analysts said the government is clearly trying to assure the market that there is sufficient supply to prevent runaway prices. - CNA /ls
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