Low demand so fewer govt sites for sale

THE Government’s latest half-yearly release of land for sale takes into consideration current low demand, but also anticipates a possible recovery in the medium or long term. National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that the Government’s decision to cut back on the number of development sites being released for outright sale in the second half of this year reflected feedback from the market.

‘Demand is currently slow and the market is quiet, so based on feedback we received, we decided to reduce the supply,’ he said on the sidelines of a dialogue in Tampines yesterday.

The Government announced on Thursday that only eight sites would be put up for outright sale in the next six months following poor interest in the 37 sites that have been available since the start of the year.

Of the 11 sites on the confirmed list, five sites have been sold, tenders for three sites have not closed and one site has not been launched. The other two were not sold.

The remaining 26 sites on the reserve list were not released for sale. These sites go on sale only if a developer makes a minimum bid.

For the second half of the year, 13 new sites were added, with 27 carried over from the first six months.

Of this batch of 40, eight are on the confirmed list with the rest on reserve.

Despite the flagging demand at the moment, Mr Mah said: ‘There may be some demand that could be waiting on the sidelines that we do not know about.

‘So we have to make sure that there is enough supply in the medium term.’

And while the Government does not want to put pressure on the market by flooding it with a supply of space in the short term, Mr Mah believed that land on the reserve list would meet requirements in the months ahead.

‘In the medium term, based on Singapore’s projected economic growth, population growth and demand for hotels and offices, we have worked to make sure that there will be enough supply on the reserve list.

‘We want steady and sustainable growth,’ he said.

Source : Sunday Times - 22 Jun 2008