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Following announcement of the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme yesterday (4 December), some experts found government’s move to not release any office sites for the first half of 2015 surprising.
Chia Siew Chuin，Director of Research & Advisory at Colliers International said: “While there is adequate supply of office space within the Downtown Core between 2016 and 2018, with the anticipated completions of South Beach, Duo and Marina One, it is [also] surprising that the Government has not released any commercial sites on the Confirmed List for 1H 2015 – given that the office supply expected to become tight beyond 2018.”
“The government would appreciate the lessons of the 2007 office supply crunch, when limited new supply led to all time record high office space rents,” she explained, adding that the government might have considered releasing a regulated pipeline of office space supply in order to ensure that no one year is left without any room for business expansions due to construction scheduling.
Colliers also commented on the inclusion of the commercial site in Woodlands on the Reserve List.
“The introduction of a new commercial site located on Woodlands Square was expected, in order to keep the development momentum going in the presently under-developed Woodlands Regional Centre, following the successful sale of the Woodlands Avenue 5/Woodlands Square site in April 2014,” noted Chia.
CBRE’s Research Head for Singapore & Southeast Asia, Desmond Sim said: “This suggests the reinforcement of the state planner’s ongoing decentralization plan and to sustain the development momentum of Woodlands Regional Centre as a major commercial node outside the city.
Chia added: “It is likely that interested developers will trigger the site for open tender, given its advantageous site attributes.” The site is located adjacent to the recently sold site at Woodlands Avenue 5/Woodlands Square and is situated within proximity to the upcoming MRT interchange station plying both the North-South Line and the Thomson-East Coast Line.
It is noted that the first half of 2015 Government Land Sales Programme (GLS) will comprise six confirmed list sites, and 13 reserve list sites which will include a commercial and residential site in Holland Village, two commercial plots are at Woodlands Square, and a White site at Marina View .
Nikki De Guzman, Editor at CommercialGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email nikki@propertyguru.com.sg.
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