2026 outlook: What’s next for property, and the top stories of 2025
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The plans for Berlayar estate on display at the HDB Hub in Toa Payoh.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
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SINGAPORE – More clarity on the rollout of the Voluntary Early Redevelopment Scheme (VERS) as well as an update on housing supply were among the key housing updates given in 2025.
More may also qualify to buy new flats soon, after the Government said the eligibility criteria for buyers can be tweaked if there is enough supply to meet demand.
Here are the top housing stories of 2025, and what could come in 2026:
1. Upcoming flat supply
Some 55,000 Build-To-Order (BTO) flats would be launched between 2025 and 2027
The figures were a 10 per cent increase over the 50,000 flats that his predecessor Desmond Lee – who is now Education Minister – had announced in January.
In 2025, 19,723 of these flats were launched. This means that between 2026 and 2027, around 35,300 BTO flats are slated to be launched.
That equates to an average of about 17,600 flats to be launched each year – about 2,000 fewer than the 19,600 launched in 2024, and 19,700 in 2025.
Of the flats to be launched in 2026 and 2027, about 4,000 per year will be units with waiting times of under three years, which HDB refers to as shorter waiting time flats.
The first of the upcoming BTO flats, numbering about 4,600, will be launched in February in towns such as Bukit Merah, Sembawang, Tampines and Toa Payoh.
About 3,000 units will also be put up for sale under a concurrent Sale of Balance Flats exercise.
As for flats with shorter waiting times, the 4,000 per year figure is at least one-third more than the Government’s previous commitment of 2,000 to 3,000 flats per year.
Mr Chee said such flats offer a closer substitute for resale flats, and can help moderate prices.
2. Review of eligibility criteria for new flats
The income ceiling for couples applying for BTO flats, as well as the minimum age of 35 for singles purchasing flats, is being reviewed.
The current BTO income ceiling, which was last revised in 2019, is $14,000 for couples and families.
This can be raised when the “right conditions are in place”
She also said then that the eligibility age for singles to buy BTO flats can be lowered when there is a larger supply of flats.
Whether any of these thresholds will be adjusted in 2026 remains to be seen.
Demand for flats will go up if the income ceiling is raised, or the age cap for singles is lowered. The planned increase in flat supply between 2025 and 2027 is intended to create the right conditions for policy moves to be made.
3. Lifting of cooling measures
The 15-month wait-out period for private property downgraders looking to buy a resale flat may be relaxed before 2027.
In June, shortly after taking office, Mr Chee said
This makes it timely for the authorities to consider if the cooling measure – which has been in place since September 2022 – should be partially or entirely removed, he said.
He added then that private property owners may not need to wait till 2027 or 2028 for a review of the wait-out requirement.
The prices of resale flats saw the slowest quarterly increase in nearly five years in the third quarter of 2025, with prices inching up 0.4 per cent in the period from July to September, down from the 0.9 per cent rise in the second quarter and 1.6 per cent increase in the first quarter.
4. Updates on VERS
The Government has committed to fleshing out the policy details of VERS between now and 2030 – the year by which the next general election must be called.
This means that public consultation on the scheme may begin as early as 2026.
Under VERS, flat owners in selected precincts that are aged about 70 and up will choose whether they want their homes to be acquired by the Government for redevelopment, before their leases run out.
Under VERS, flat owners in selected precincts that are aged about 70 and up will choose whether they want their homes to be acquired by the Government for redevelopment, before their leases run out.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
The first VERS projects are likely to begin in the first half of the 2030s
In the first significant update since the scheme was announced at the 2018 National Day Rally, Mr Chee said in August 2025 that the VERS framework will be developed within this term of government.
This, he said, includes setting parameters to identify possible VERS sites, working out a fair compensation package for residents affected by the scheme, and ensuring sufficient homes are ready in time for them to move into.
5. Private property supply updates
State land supply for the first half of 2026 will comprise nine confirmed list sites and 12 reserve list sites.
Reserve list sites are released for sale only if a developer offers a minimum price deemed acceptable to the Government, or when there is sufficient market interest.
For the second year running, the Government has lowered the number of future private homes on the confirmed list while raising supply on the reserve list, signalling growing caution over an uncertain economic outlook.
The message to developers is that they should dip into the reserve list if they believe demand cannot be met by sites on the confirmed list, said Knight Frank research head Leonard Tay.
About 20 private launches (excluding executive condominiums), which will offer around 8,400 future homes, could hit the market in 2026. This is down from 25 launches in 2025, accounting for around 11,500 units, analysts say.
Of the 2026 launch slate, about 65 per cent of the units are expected to be in the suburbs, including in housing estates such as Tengah and Bayshore.
6. More help for seniors in private property
Seniors in private properties will be able to get elder-friendly fittings, such as grab bars, installed in their homes at a subsidised cost.
This is part of an expanded Enhancement for Active Seniors programme, which previously covered only HDB dwellers.
Private home buyers will be given more time to inspect their new homes and notify developers of defects.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
The three-year scheme is expected to be launched by the first quarter of 2026, and is expected to benefit more than 70,000 seniors living in private homes.
7. Private home buyer protections beefed up
Regulatory changes to safeguard private home buyers and help them make more informed decisions will take effect in early 2026.
These include requiring developers to provide additional details for new housing projects in sales documents, such as marking the structural walls and refuse chambers in the site plan.
Private home buyers will also be given more time to inspect their new homes and notify developers of defects.
Currently, the one-year defects liability period and home buyers’ maintenance charge liability start on the date of delivery of vacant possession of the property, or the 15th day after the payment notice is issued at the temporary occupation permit (TOP) stage, whichever is earlier.
Under the new rules, these periods will now start on the date of delivery of vacant possession of the property, or the 35th day after the payment notice is issued at the TOP stage, whichever is earlier.
A look back at 2025
1. URA masterplan
At least 80,000 public and private residential units are expected to be introduced across more than 10 new housing areas islandwide over the next 10 to 15 years, under the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) Master Plan 2025 gazetted in early December.
Some 5,000 new private homes could be introduced in the Newton area, while Paterson – on the doorstep of Orchard Road – could get 1,000 new private homes.
Other areas to get new homes include the new Dover-Medway neighbourhood in the greater one-north precinct and the former Singapore Racecourse in Kranji. New towns at the sites of Sembawang Shipyard and Paya Lebar Air Base are being studied for future housing.
2. More property cooling measures
To curb property flippers, the seller’s stamp duty (SSD) holding period was raised to four years from three years, and SSD rates raised by 4 percentage points across all tiers with effect from July 4.
This cooling measure was introduced even as the proportion of sub-sales – units sold before a property attains completion status – declined in recent quarters.
Sub-sales could spike again due to the sharp drop in interest rates since the start of 2025, and the number of private residential housing units obtaining TOP is set to double by 2027.
3. Pro-business measures
The Government took steps to cut real estate-related red tape for businesses, and to simplify rules and processes, in an effort to bring down processing time and costs.
Among reforms introduced to ensure more effective and equitable risk-sharing between government agencies and industry, government contracts in the built environment sector must include a clause that limits a consultant’s contractual liability from Dec 1, 2025.
This is in response to feedback that “unlimited liability” in such contracts, which do not specify limits on consultants’ contractual liability, puts them at significant risk of financial losses.
URA and the Singapore Land Authority have also drawn up a list of vacant state land sites that can be used for show flats.
The aim is to make it easier for developers to source such sites and halve the time it currently takes to obtain government agencies’ approvals.
