SINGAPORE — Fifteen land parcels for private residential and mixed-use have been released for sale in the first half of next year under the Government Land Sales programme (GLS), including seven that have been carried over from the second half of this year.

Three sites are reserved for the development of Executive Condominiums (ECs) located at Canberra Link, Tampines Ave 10 and Anchorvale Crescent.

Comprising six confirmed sites and nine on the reserved list, the sites can yield 8,045 private residential units and 63,960sqm gross floor area of commercial space.

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^{The proposed residential, commercial and hotel sites for 1H2018 GLS programme. Table: MND}

The Ministry of National Development (MND) said in a statement on Wednesday (Dec 13) that the supply is about the same as what was offered in the second half 2017 under the GLS programme, which stood at 8,125 private residential units.

MND noted that while demand for sites by real estate developers remain strong and transaction volumes have taken an upturn, there is a large potential supply currently in the market.

“Around 20,000 units from awarded en-bloc sale and GLS sites that have not yet been granted planning approval, on top of the around 18,000 unsold units that already have planning approval,” MND said in the statement.

“Moreover, there are more than 30,000 existing private housing units that remain vacant,” the Ministry added.

The total supply in the pipeline “will be adequate to meet the purchase demand for new private housing from home buyers over the next 1-2 years,” MND said.

According to a report from Cushman & Wakefield, a total of 20 enbloc residential projects have been sold so far this year — surpassing S$6.34 billion in total value. Private home prices also rose for the first time in nearly four years, up 0.7 per cent in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter.

Earlier this month, Jervois Green, a freehold development at 100A Jervois Road, was sold for S$52.9 million, while How Sun Park in the Bartley area fetched S$81.1 million on Nov 28.

On Nov 30, the Monetary Authority of Singapore warned that recent developments – including the rise in prices and volume of transactions, the en bloc fever and high interest from developers in government land sales – could pose risks to the property market, and developers, potential buyers and banks “should proceed cautiously”.

Pointing out that the supply of private housing will increase significantly over the next few years, the MAS said in its financial stability review that units available for sale will more than double in the same period.

Market players should take a “medium-term view” of supply-demand dynamics and act with caution, the central bank said.