Increasing prices-land use is partly determined by opportunity cost and mechanism. Land is very valuable in cities like Singapore as competition among different land uses is intense. Price is an effective tool to allocate the scarce land in a competitive situation. The closer one gets to the city centre, the more expensive the land becomes. An example is where when one is staying in an area where there are transportation and facilities nearby for example people living near orchard road, the cost of that area of houses would be much higher compared to those staying away from the city centre.
Increasing land supply
- land reclamation
- maximizing land use
Land reclamation-
- Landfill- putting sand into coastal waters to make new land. An example, East Coast Park.
- Reclaiming derelict land- disused mining pits. An example, tin mining areas in west Malaysia
- Empoldering- countries lying below sea level. An example, the Netherlands building dams and draining off salt water to make polders
- Draining swamps- an example, Tanjong Karang Land Reclamation Scheme
Maximizing land use
- Urban land use- mixed land use, tall buildings built in close proximity to each other. An example, Skyscrapers are built close together in Singapore.
- Agricultural land use- terracing, soil-less farming and irrigation
Conserving of land- nature reserves are our natural heritage. An example, central catchment area from Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Land conservation reserves land for future development.
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Land Reclamation in Singapore
Reasons for Land Reclamation
Large-scale land reclamation has been undertaken in different parts of Singapore since the 1960s. This is necessary because of
- the small size of the country (total area being about 581.5km square prior to 1960) and
- the rising demand for more land as the population increases.
More land has been made available for
- building more homes in private and public housing estates and recreational facilities for the growing population, and
- expanding commercial and industrial activities and transport needs, the latest of which include roads, expressways, the Mass Rapid Transit System, the port and airport facilities.
By 1990, the total land area of Singapore was 633km square. This was an increase of 51.5km square, which made up 8.9% the total land area. With continuing land reclamation, land area in Singapore will increase by about another 100km square by the year 2030. There are, however, constraints as to how much more land the country can reclaim. Two limiting factors have to be considered.
- Land reclamation works in the past used to be carried out from depths of 5-10m. Today, reclamation works have to venture into deeper waters of 15m or so and this will incur much higher costs.
- It is also not so viable to pursue pushing reclamation further offshore because there is the competing need to maintain the sealanes and provide new and larger ports for the bigger ships to anchor in Singapore's limited sea space.
Method of Land Reclamation
The landfill mothod is used to reclaim land from the coast and the swamps in Singapore. It is also used in reclamation works involving the merging of islands. One such project is the amalgamation of Pulau Sakra and Pulau Bakau into one big island called Pulau Sakara, which is ten times the size of the two former islands.
In the early years, the fill materials evacuated from the hills in Bedok, Siglap, Tampines and Jurong were used for filling the reclamation areas. In recent years, sea sand obtained from the seabed is the main source of fill materials for reclamation. The reclamation contractors import the sea sand from the neighbouring countries such as Indonesia.
Increasing prices of land in Singapore
below is an analysis of Singapore’s inhabitants (in ‘000s) with respect to the Singapore department of statistics:-
Year Total Singapore
Residents
2000 — 4,027.9 — 3273.4
2001 — 4,138. — 3,325.9
2002 — 4,176. — 3,382.9
2003 — 4,114.8 — 3,366.9
2004 — 4,166.7 — 3,413.3
2005 — 4,265.8 — 3,467.8
2006 — 4,401.4 — 3,525.9
2007 — 4,588.6 — 3,583.1
2008 — 4,839.4 — 3,642.7
2009 — 4,987.6 — 3,733.9
The inhabitants increase in 2006 over 2005 is a net surge of 135,600
The inhabitants growth in 2007 over 2006 is a net growth of 184,000
The population increase in 2008 over 2007 is a net growth of 250,800
The population increase in 2009 over 2008 is a net increase of 148,200
Based on household size of 3.5 people (Source: Singstat), this would translate into a potential housing demand of: -
2006 – 38,743 units
2007 – 52,571 units
2008 – 71,657 units
2009 – 42,342 units
“In year 2006, we were building about 2,400 new flats. This year, we are
building about 8,000-plus new flats. Supply has gone up to meet demand. That’s
why HDB prices have gone up but they have not gone through the roof.” (Source: Straits times)
MASS Real estate market HDB BEING PROPPED UP
Several of these new stocks were “Built-to-order” flats which often can require 3 to 4 yrs to finish adding to serious shortages of HDB flats.
WHAT IS THE LIKELY Impact?
Devoid of much option, Fussy Singaporeans will be forced to choose undesired locations for instance Punggol which in the past has excess units. Not only that, some may not wait and instead go directly to buy private housing.
HDB flat house owners whose property valuation have increased and are sitting on profits will now consider to sell their HDB and buy a private unit instead. There is currently no shortgage of supplies of Private properties at around 60k units over several years. This is easily 7 to 8 years of supply based on average consumption trend.
Maximizing land use in Singapore
[an image of shop houses in Little India]
Houses are built on top of the shops to
maximize the use of space.
[an image of the skyscrapers in Singapore]
The skyscrapers are built close together,
allowing more space for residential flats to house
a growing population and offers more offices to accommodate
expanding economic activities.
Candy (03),
