SINGAPORE, 20 June 2023 – Mr Lam Chern Woon (蓝振文), Head of Research and Consulting at EDMUND TIE comments on the Ministry of National Development’s announcement on the 2H 2023 GLS Programme.
The MND released today the 2H 2023 GLS Programme. Residential supply on the Confirmed List has been ratcheted up by over a quarter to 5,160 units from 4,090 in the last Confirmed List. The 2H 2023 Confirmed List supply is the largest since 2H 2013’s 5,960 and also brought full-year Confirmed List supply of 9,250 units to the highest in a decade since 2013 (12,895 units).
The greater injection of supply complements earlier measures to raise public housing supply and reduce waiting times to meet the growing housing needs of the population. With the exception of one site (Orchard Boulevard), the rest of the sites could each yield at least 500 dwelling units.
Most residential sites on the Confirmed and Reserve Lists are naturally located in the heartlands, except for some locations like Orchard Boulevard, Zion Road (Parcels A and B), Pine Grove (Parcel B) and Holland Drive. The choice of the prime sites were carefully calibrated to ensure that supply is not excessive. In particular, the Orchard Boulevard and Zion Road sites are attractive, given their proximity to MRT stations that commenced operations late last year on the Thomson East Coast Line. Although the Zion Road parcels could yield a sizeable 1,560 units, we expect strong end-user demand, given its choice location and proximity to the Great World City, the Tiong Bahru food centre, quaint and hip neighbourhood of cafes and the Great World MRT station.
In the Reserve List, the Holland Drive site will also ride on the success and rejuvenation of the Holland Village precinct by the One Holland Village project; this site is likely to draw strong interest from developers given its proximity to town, the range of amenities and F&B options, as well as connectivity provided by the Holland Village MRT station on the Circle Line.
Among the suburban sites, most sites would go towards meeting pent-up demand in estates like Clementi and Toa Payoh and De Souza, where previously launched projects have been fully sold out. We expect such sites to draw robust bidding interest from developers, given the neighbouring upgrading catchments in Clementi, Toa Payoh and Bukit Batok. In particular, for the De Souza site, we could expect to see interest from residents looking to right-size from the landed housing estates in the Toh Tuck and Upper Bukit Timah precincts, while its proximity to the popular Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School would also find favour with families with young children.
There is also a healthy spread of EC sites across the Confirmed and Reserve Lists, which will serve to satiate housing demand for this segment given the limited supply. In particular, the Tampines Street 95 EC site enjoys close proximity to the upcoming Tampines West MRT station on the Downtown line.
The government continues to adopt a light touch on commercial and hotel supply, preferring to place the bulk of supply under the Reserve List, which would allow developers to trigger based on market demand.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Seah Li Ching (Ms)
Corporate Communications
DID: +65 6393 2369
Email: liching.seah@etcsea.com