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(SINGAPORE) The government yesterday announced its land sales programme for the first-half of next year, signalling what is interpreted by analysts as an attempt to ease the shortage of office space, and build up Singapore's stock of hotel rooms.

There was, however, little indication that it would do much to cool the property fever in the high-end residential sector.

The announcement was widely welcomed by developers who had been worried that more confirmed sites for the residential market could dampen the current luxury housing boom.

On offer for H1 2007 are 32 sites on the reserve list and seven on the confirmed list. The most choice of the new sites being offered by the Ministry of National Development (MND) is a one-hectare plot near Marina Bay just behind No 1 Shenton Way, for launch in the confirmed list in May 2007. It can generate up to 1.1 million sq ft of commercial gross floor area (GFA), which is expected to help alleviate the office shortage.

This will be one of eight new sites that MND has introduced for H1 2007. The other seven new plots will be added to the reserve list. While reserve-list sites are launched for tender only if a developer submits an application with an undertaking to offer a minimum price acceptable to the state, confirmed list sites are tendered out according to a predetermined schedule.

The slate of 32 reserve and seven confirmed sites for H1 2007 can potentially generate about 5,475 private homes, 5.3 million sq ft of commercial GFA and 5,285 hotel rooms.

This is higher than the 4,670 private homes, 2.9 million sq ft commercial GFA and 4,155 hotel rooms that could potentially be developed on the 33 reserve sites and sole confirmed plot in the current H2 2006 programme.

CB Richard Ellis noted that whereas there was just one commercial site for office development (the former NCO Club on Beach Road) in the H2 2006 confirmed list, there will now be three sites in the H1 2007 confirmed list (including the plot behind 1 Shenton Way, and a parcel in Tampines Finance Park) that could yield up to 2.4 million sq ft of GFA in total.

In addition, there are three reserve sites that will generate office space - two at Anson Road and another above Outram Park MRT Station.

MND is moving five sites currently in the H2 2006 reserve list to the H1 2007 confirmed list, probably to nudge developers to bid for them and expedite their development for planning and other strategic reasons.

The five plots comprise residential sites in Handy Road (near Cathay Building and the SMU precinct) and Choa Chu Kang (to be integrated with the Ten Mile project above Bukit Panjang LRT Depot), a commercial site in Tampines Finance Park, a white site on Belilios Lane in bustling Little India, and a sports/recreation site on Fairy Point Hill in the newly revitalised Changi Point area.

Developers were not miffed by the move. City Developments managing director Kwek Leng Joo said: 'We understand the measured move by the government to release some sites in the confirmed list to achieve certain planning/land use objectives.'

The new sites in the reserve list include a plum condo site opposite Ang Mo Kio MRT Station and another condo plot next to Blue Horizon condo at West Coast Crescent, a new commercial plot on Anson Road/Enggor Street, just a stone's throw away from an existing reserve-list site, and a 2.5-ha white site (with a range of uses allowed) above Outram Park MRT Station opposite Singapore General Hospital, which will have minimum office and hotel components (the latter ideal for medical tourism given the location).

Also in the latest reserve list will be three new hotel plots - on Syed Alwi Road, New Bridge Road and Jellicoe Road.

'This will allow hotels in non-traditional locations that should appeal to visitors, looking for quirky, niche or just cheaper accommodation,' says DTZ Debenham Tie Leung executive director Ong Choon Fah.

Mrs Ong observes that MND is continuing a cautious stance for the private residential sector, offering such sites mostly through the reserve list.

The idea is probably not to kill the tepid recovery in the mass-market sector but at the same time, there's a 'safety valve' in the form of reserve sites which developers can trigger if demand picks up in this segment, she adds.

The government has also split a reserve list condo site at Enggor Street next to Icon into two smaller plots in response to developer feedback.

This should cater to demand for homes in the central districts - in addition to the hundreds or possibly thousands of new homes that could be launched as old CBD office blocks are redeveloped into apartments.

Knight Frank executive director Peter Ow does not see much impact on the residential market from MND's latest announcement.

The Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore expressed confidence that the Singapore property market would continue to experience sustainable growth and that market confidence will filter down to all levels, given MND's moderation of state land sales through the reserve list.