Oral Answer by Ministry of National Development on developers’ demand for land

Nov 6, 2017

Dr Lim Wee Kiak: To ask the Minister for National Development 

a) what is the underlying driving force for the recent spate of en bloc sales of properties;

b) whether there is a need for the Government to ramp up its land sales to meet developers' demand for land; and

c) what is the impact of the recent demand on the outlook for the property market for the next six months?

Answer:

A total of around 2,700 existing private residential units have been sold en-bloc this year to date, up from 600 units in 2016. The recent increase in en-bloc sales could be attributed to two main factors:

First, more developers are keen to replenish their land banks.  There has been a healthy increase in the sales of new units in the first three quarters of the year, which in turn means that the unsold supply in the pipeline has come down. To illustrate, there are about 17,200 units as at 3Q2017, down from about 40,000 units in 2012.  

Second, successful en-bloc sales in 2016 may have encouraged more owners of ageing residential projects to initiate the en-bloc sale process this year, so as to monetise their assets.

The en-bloc sale sites sold since 2016 will be redeveloped, and made available for sale in the next one to two years. The supply of these new units from en-bloc sales, as well as other factors such as population and income growth, and property market conditions, will be taken into consideration in deciding the quantum of land to be put out for Government Land Sales (GLS).   

The GLS programme is updated on a half-yearly basis with sites on the Confirmed List (, which means that the site will be released for sale within the next 6 months); and the Reserve List (, which means that the sale of the site can be initiated by a developer, if they assess that there is demand). Details of the GLS programme for the first half of 2018 will be announced by the end of this year. 

The Government will continue to monitor the overall trends and developments closely, and take appropriate actions to maintain a stable and sustainable property market.