Written Answer

Sufficient Supply of Public and Private Housing to Meet Demand and Projected Increase in Private Residential Prices in 2022

Speakers

Summary

This question concerns Mr Desmond Choo’s inquiry on the adequacy of housing supply and the projected increase in private residential property prices for 2022. Minister for National Development Desmond Lee explained that BTO supply will ramp up to 23,000 flats annually in 2022 and 2023, with up to 100,000 flats planned by 2025. Private housing supply via the Government Land Sales Confirmed List was increased by 40% to 2,800 units for the first half of 2022. These supply measures and recent cooling measures have begun moderating price growth in both the private and public resale markets. The Government aims to monitor market conditions closely to ensure residential prices remain sustainable and aligned with economic fundamentals.

Transcript

38 Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether the current supply of public and private housing is sufficient to meet demand; and (b) what is the projected increase in private residential prices in 2022.

Mr Desmond Lee: In December 2021, the Government announced plans to increase supply to meet housing demand.

We will ramp up BTO supply to launch up to 23,000 flats per year in 2022 and 2023. This will be a significant increase of 35% from the 17,000 flats launched in 2021. We are prepared to launch up to 100,000 flats in total from 2021 to 2025, if needed.

For private housing, there will be around 2,800 units on the Confirmed List of the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme for the first half of 2022. This is a 40% increase from the Confirmed List of the previous GLS Programme. There is also a good selection of sites on the Reserve List, to give developers the flexibility to initiate additional private housing supply, if they assess that there is market demand. We will step up the GLS supply even further, if demand remains strong.

These supply measures, coupled with the cooling measures implemented in December 2021, help to support a stable and sustainable property market. For instance, the increase in private residential property prices moderated to 0.7% between 4Q2021 and 1Q2022, from 5% between 3Q2021 and 4Q2021. Similarly, HDB resale prices rose by 2.4% in 1Q2022, compared to 3.4% in 4Q2021. The Government will continue to monitor the economic and property market conditions closely, with a view to ensure that residential housing prices move broadly in line with economic fundamentals.