No lack of space for 10 million population

By Ku Swee Yong

/ Century 21 |

May 16, 2016 9:56 AM SGT

“Land scarcity is a very real problem for Singapore, which explains the ever-increasing land costs and property prices which are driven by pent-up demand.” — SGPropertyReviews.com,
Jan 11, 2014

Singaporeans have been brought up to accept statements like this as a gospel truth. Many do not even question the meaning of scarcity and without looking at the growth of the nation, do not realise that Singapore’s land size has increased by 100 square kilometers in the last 35 years. Add to that the advances in space planning, improved transport systems, enhanced construction capabilities leading to a much higher population density and “Voila!”, we have 5.54 million people today.

Traffic travels along the Tampines Expressway past public buildings in Punggol (right), while a man enters his home in Sengkang, where the number of flats under HDB management are projected to increase to 92,000 from the current 59,497

The brief statistics are, in the 35-year period between 1980 and 2015, our population grew 129% from 2.41 million to 5.54 million, made possible by a 16% increase in land size from 617.9 sqkm to 719.1 sqkm and a 97% increase in population density from 3,907 people per sqkm to 7,697 people per sqkm.

Table 1: Singapore’s land size grew by 100 sqkm while her population grew by 3.1 million over the 35-year period from 1980 to 2015.

Year	Population	Land size	Population density (per sq km)
1980*	2,413,945	617.9	3,907
1985	2,735,957	620.5	4,409
1990*	3,047,132	633.0	4,814
1995	3,524,506	647.5	5,443
2000*	4,027,887	682.7	5,900
2005	4,265,762	696.9	6,121
2010*	5,076,732	710.4	7,146
2015	5,535,002	719.1	7,697

Notes:

* Census of population

Prior to 2003, data are based on Singapore’s land area as at end-December. From 2003 onwards, data are based on Singapore’s land area as at end-June.

Data on population from 2003 onwards exclude residents who have been away from Singapore for a continuous period of 12 months or longer as at the reference period.

Source: SingStat, Century 21 (IPA)

Even though land reclamation allowed us to increase our land mass, there are many amongst us who do not feel that there is ever enough, and continue to insist that 719.1 sqkm of land is considered scarce.

Scarcity or otherwise, let us at least recognize that we have carried a misconception for several generations: the phrase “land is scarce” does not equate to “space is scarce”. We have been stacking more and more people on top of one another and packing people closer together to create higher and higher population density.

Technology has improved. Our capabilities have improved. Lifestyles have changed. Today we are better able to accommodate higher population densities because of better construction standards, better space planning, better transport systems and we have flexible working hours with many knowledge workers working longer hours in cafes and from homes.

For those who have not been putting the various pieces of the Master Plan together, we present a summary of various pieces of “work in progress” in the real estate front that will allow Singapore to accommodate a 10 million population from around the year 2050. We also make the bold assumption that the Transport and Health authorities are expanding their capacity to match the population increase.

One more somewhat audacious assumption on the back of our low birthrates: Singapore’s environments and economy will remain sufficiently attractive such that there is a constant stream of population inflow to sustain a population growth to 10 million people.

Based on scattered bits of public information announced over the past few years and gluing them together with our assumptions, the sections below will reveal to us how the residential landscape can evolve to house our growing population.

Existing HDB towns – 535,144 more units in the pipeline

Table 2 provides us with a glimpse of the long term dwelling plans undertaken by the Housing & Development Board (HDB). For 23 of the HDB towns, their total land area and the total number of flats currently being managed by HDB. The projected maximum number of dwelling units, which includes HDB flats and future government land sales for private residences, are also listed. Do note that the projected ultimate number does not include residences that will be built on private land, or enbloc redevelopments of apartments on state land.

Table 2: HDB towns and their projected target of dwelling units.

HDB towns	Land size (Ha)	Flats under HDB management	Projected ultimate number of units
Ang Mo Kio	638	49,169	58,000
Bedok	937	60,115	79,000
Bishan	690	19,664	34,000
Bukit Batok	785	32,275	53,000
Bukit Merah	858	51,885	68,000
Bukit Panjang	489	34,463	44,000
Choa Chu Kang	583	42,393	62,000
Clementi	412	25,480	39,000
Geylang	678	29,256	49,000
Hougang	1,309	51,646	72,000
Jurong East	384	23,379	30,000
Jurong West	987	71,755	94,000
Kallang/Whampoa	799	35,740	57,000
Pasir Ris	601	29,207	44,000
Punggol	957	35,515	96,000
Queenstown	694	30,546	60,000
Sembawang	708	20,311	65,000
Sengkang	1,055	59,497	92,000
Serangoon	737	21,293	30,000
Tampines	1,200	66,599	110,000
Toa Payoh	556	36,439	61,000
Woodlands	1,198	62,675	98,000
Yishun	778	56,698	84,000
Other Estates	-	22,856	25,000
Total		968,856	1,504,000
		To be built	535,144

Note:

“Toa Payoh” town includes Bidadari

“Other Estates” include Bukit Timah, Central Area and Marine Parade

Land size includes private developments on private and state land.

Projected ultimate figures include private developments under Government Land Sales Programme.

Source: HDB “Key Statistics – HDB Annual Report 2014/15”, Century 21 (IPA)

From the differences in the totals, we see that sufficient land has been set aside to build another 535,144 dwelling units in the next decade and beyond. However, these units reside purely within HDB towns and various large private residential estates such as Bukit Timah, Newton-Novena, Tanglin and the Downtown Core have not been included.

New residential precincts – an additional 534,000 units?

In the past 10 years, announcements have been made regarding new residential precincts such as Woodlands North Coast, Jurong Lake District, Tampines North and Bidadari. The additional housing capacity planned in these new precincts have been included in the projected ultimate numbers listed under the HDB towns of Woodlands, Jurong East, Tampines and Toa Payoh in Table 2.

In addition, there are four more new residential precincts that are being planned.

The operations in Paya Lebar Air Base will cease from 2030 onwards and we may expect the first HDB flats to begin construction perhaps two years later. The advantage this brings to the immediate neighbourhoods such as Hougang and Aljunied is that height restrictions may be lifted and plot ratios increased significantly.

Fancy being a resident of Pulau Brani? The Greater Southern Waterfront will begin its transformation from 2027, when the City Terminals start to relocate to Tuas, followed by the Pasir Panjang Terminal around year 2030.

Tengah could be named as a new HDB town when details of its plans are revealed. This precinct has been set aside in the master plans for some time now and with the recently announced plans to develop the new Jurong Innovation District, plans for the Tengah new town could be accelerated.

The overall plans for Marina South Residential District was crystallised starting from a design competition held in 2007. Plot ratios assigned to the residential blocks at “Gardenfront Residences” are relatively high at between 4.9 and 5.6, allowing the lucky residents to have a clear view over the Sky Trees in Gardens By The Bay.

Table 3: Estimates of total dwellings to be built in four new residential precincts as announced in URA Master Plan 2008 and 2014

New residential precincts	Land size (Ha)	Estimated housing units	Estimated start date
Paya Lebar Air Base	800	120,000	2032
Greater Southern Waterfront	1,000	150,000	2030
Tengah	700	55,000	2017
Marina South	60	9,000	2018
Others	n.a.	200,000	2050?

Note: The estimate for the 9,000 housing units in Marina South is stated on the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s website and the other estimates are based on the author’s estimates based on various sources.

Source: URA, Century 21 (IPA)

Increasing plot ratio, improving space planning

Intensifying land use and increasing population density are made possible through several elements. Plot ratios across the country can be increased due to better planning and integration with public transportation and changing lifestyles. Example can be seen from the rebuilding of old estates such as Commonwealth, Tanglin and Dawson where old 10-storey blocks with open-air carparks were demolished and replaced with new 40-storey blocks that are built closer and integrated with amenities such as carparks, clinics, supermarkets and community facilities to boot.

In private housing, apartment sizes are shrinking, especially when the increase in single person households support the proliferation of shoebox units. The smaller average size of apartments has led to an increase of about 20% more residential units than what is planned for each government land parcel sold.

Looking forward

The current total stock of residential units exceeds 1.3 million and together with alternative accommodation types such as dormitories and serviced apartments, Singapore can comfortably house 5.54 million people. Based on the tabulations in the sections above, I believe that Singapore has sufficient capacity to add 1.1 million more housing units without further reclamation of land. We can then comfortably welcome another 4.5 million people.

Someone recently said that “with inflation, the rising cost of living and land scarcity, property prices will continually rise in Singapore over time, which makes property a great investment.” I think he will be correct, provided we can continue to keep the population growing.

Ku Swee Yong is a licensed real estate agent and the CEO of Century 21 Singapore. He recently published his fourth book “Weathering a Property Downturn”.

This article appeared in The Edge Property Pullout, Issue 727 (May 9, 2016) of The Edge Singapore.

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