URA confirmed three sites under GLS Programme H1 2020

Two residential and one mixed-use sites were included in the confirmed list.

The government has confirmed three and reserved eight more under the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme in H1 2020, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced.

Those confirmed are two residential sites with one for executive condo (EC), and one mixed-use site which can yield about 1,775 private residential units. It consists of 600 EC units and 22,000 sqm gross floor area (GFA) of commercial space.

Meanwhile, the reserved sites include four private residential sites (with one EC site), three white sites and one hotel site. These can yield about 4,715 private residential units (including 595 EC units), 92,000 sqm GFA of commercial space and 1,070 hotel rooms.

Overall, the sites can yield about 6,490 private residential units, 114,000 sqm GFA of commercial space and 1,070 hotel rooms.

Desmond Sim, Head of Research, Southeast Asia in CBRE found the list to reflect the sentiments amongst developers to be more cautious in bidding. “The holdback of supply on the Confirmed list would allow developers to focus on clearing their existing inventory while those who are keen to acquire land can look to the Reserve list as a viable option,” Sim said.

Of the confirmed sites, the mixed-used development located in Jalan Anak Bukit was found to be the most interesting. OrangeTee & Tie head of research & consultancy Christine Sun said that such developments tend to be highly popular amongst residents.

“The development will help to spruce up the Beauty World precinct, where there is a lack of office space and retail stock is predominantly aged,” Sim said.

However, Colliers International head of research for Singapore Tricia Song noted that there are more conditions in developing these sites, like the requirement to build an integrated bus interchange and the sizes normally demanding a larger land price quantum of over $1b.

Song found the Tanah Merah residential site to be the most attractive, with its proximity to the Tanah Merah MRT station and its relatively smaller size of 310 units. Tay Huey Ying, JLL’s head of research and consultancy in Singapore shares this sentiment as well.

The supply of housing units in the pipeline stood at about 39,000 units, although declining from around 45,000 in end-2018. This includes 34,000 unsold units from GLS and en-bloc sale sites with planning approval, and 5,000 units from sites that are pending planning approval.