10,550 private homes, maybe

(Abstract from TodayOnline 7th Nov, 2009 by Tan Hui Leng)

SINGAPORE - It has come a month earlier this year than usual, in what seems a clear move to tackle concerns about the property market's exuberance. On Friday, the Government released details of its Land Sales programme for the first half of next year, signalling a potential addition of 10,550 private homes - the most since the programme began in 2001.

The much-anticipated reinstatement of the Confirmed List - a list suspended a year ago as the recession bit - saw eight residential sites identified to be put up for tender in the first four months. These could yield 2,925 units, just short of the high at the peak of the property boom in 2007.

"Since people say there's some anxiety about housing supply and so on ... it's better to tell people (now) that there's going to be adequate housing supply," said the Urban Redevelopment Authority's senior group director (land sales and administration) Choy Chan Pong.

On the Reserve List - for sites whose tender will only be triggered if there is a minimum bid - are 16 residential sites and two mixed-used sites that could include residential units.

All 26 sites in the programme will be outside the Core Central Region, to increase the supply of more affordable private housing, said Mr Choy. Four of the Confirmed List sites are new - at Buangkok, Lakeside, Simei and Upper Serangoon. Their selection is based on national development plans: For instance, the Lakeside area will be developed as part of the Jurong Lake District.

Analysts believe this injection of new units could put a lid on private home prices, which in the third quarter grew 15.8 per cent - the steepest on-quarter rise since 1981.

"It's the intention of the Government to make sure that property prices don't run away," said Knight Frank's Peter Ow.

Cushman and Wakefield Singapore's Donald Han expects more developers from China and Hong Kong to join the fray, as the high-end markets here have not peaked price-wise.

As of the third quarter, there were some 59,700 units in the pipeline, not including the 2,010 units from the Reserve List sites sold this year.

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