RELEASE OF LAND SALES FOR PRIVATE PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

Mr Inderjit Singh asked the Minister for National Development if he will consider releasing land sales for private property development since property prices have stabilised in the last few months.

The Minister for National Development (Mr Lim Hng Kiang): Mr Speaker, Sir, as announced in June last year, Government land sales for private residential, Executive Condominium and commercial development will remain suspended in 1999, except for a site at Clark Quay MRT station. We will review the demand and supply situation again towards the end of 1999 before deciding on the land sales programme for Year 2000. There is currently no change in the Government's plan.

Mr Inderjit Singh (Ang Mo Kio): Sir, as we have seen from press reports in the past few weeks, developers have increased prices of private property by as much as 17%. What this means is that the balance between demand and supply is a very delicate one. Does the Minister not feel that a one-year wait to review the prices may be too late and we may see prices escalating again at uncontrollable levels?

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government would rather leave the setting of prices for properties to the market. Our job is just to ensure that there is an adequate supply to meet the demand as many market analysts have indicated, there is no lack of supply in the private property market. Today, we have more than 6,000 units which have been launched but still unsold. There are another 10,000 units not launched but with all the prerequisites for sale. So the developers are waiting for the right timing to launch these units. There are also another 10,000 units under planning without the prerequisites for sale. All in all, we have about 26,000 to 27,000 units in the pipeline. So there is no sense of urgency to release land for this year. We will again consider releasing land for next year towards the end of 1999.