Singapore to expand pool of serviced apartments, will test new category with 3-month minimum stay requirement

SINGAPORE: To better meet the demand for rental accommodation, Singapore will pilot a new class of serviced apartments with a minimum stay duration of three months.

Tenants in serviced apartments are now required to stay for a minimum of seven days. This means potential tenants -  Singaporeans and foreigners - are up against those in Singapore for short stays, such as tourists and business travellers, said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee on Wednesday (Nov 29).

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) defines serviced apartments as self-contained apartments with kitchenettes or kitchens. They also provide support services like concierge, common dining areas, housekeeping and/or laundry for the residents.

“To ensure that serviced apartments can be more targeted in meeting demand for longer term stays, we will be piloting serviced apartments with a three-month minimum stay period,” said Mr Lee, who was speaking at the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (REDAS) 64th-anniversary dinner.

He added the long-stay serviced apartments will coexist alongside shorter-stay serviced apartments with seven-day minimum stay requirements, and similarly, cannot be strata subdivided for sale.

To allow the government to better gauge market demand before studying if the long-stay serviced apartments can be implemented more rapidly, the pilot will start with two sites at Upper Thomson Road and Zion Road under the Confirmed List of the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme for the second half of 2023.

Both sites are located next to existing MRT station, providing easy access to the city centre, employment nodes and various amenities.

The two sites, to be launched in early December, will each have a proportion of the gross floor area (GFA) to be set aside for the long-stay serviced apartments, with a total potential yield of around 535 serviced apartment units.

Mr Lee said URA will announce more details in due course.

BTO WAIT TIMES BACK TO PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS

The announcement comes as the demand for other types of housing increases among Singaporeans.

“While the vast majority of Singaporeans still aspire to own their own homes, some have shared with us that they are open to the idea of renting,” said Mr Lee.

He added the government also needs to maintain a healthy rental supply to cater to those who need to rent, such as those waiting to collect the keys to their new homes.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, waiting times for newly launched BTO projects hit a peak of four to five years.

But Mr Lee said on Wednesday that waiting times for 2023 BTO projects, including the upcoming December sales exercise, will return to pre-pandemic levels of between three to four years. Almost 70 per cent of the flats launched in 2023 have a wait time of four years or less, he added.

“HDB will build on these efforts to launch more shorter waiting time projects, which come with waiting times of less than three years,” he said.