Private housing land sold by the government has risen in price by about 5 per cent a year for a decade. EdgeProp Singapore's review of the 63 residential Government Land Sales (GLS) sites awarded since 2016 puts the average winning bid at $833 psf per plot ratio in 2016 and $1,312 psf ppr in 2025, a 17 per cent jump on 2024 alone. Sites awarded so far in 2026 have averaged $1,465 psf ppr.
Land is the largest single cost in a new condo, so today's land bids shape the prices of launches two to three years from now. Here is what drove the climb, what Roov's own GLS tracker shows for this year, and what it means if you are buying.
Land followed the price of new homes
The plainest driver is what developers can sell for. EdgeProp found the average new-sale price of private non-landed homes rose 84 per cent between 2016 and 2025, from $1,428 psf to $2,626 psf, while GLS land rose 58 per cent over the same span. The two feed each other: dearer homes justify dearer land, and dearer land pushes the next launch up.
The suburbs moved most. The average land price in the Outside Central Region rose 46 per cent, from $741 to $1,080 psf ppr, while land in the Core Central Region slipped 4 per cent. The gap between the two narrowed from $633 to $242 psf ppr. The 2023 and 2024 dip was partly a change of measure rather than cheaper land: sites launched from September 2022 count air-conditioner ledges as floor area, so each square foot of land buys less saleable space. Our guide to floor-area harmonisation explains why that matters when you compare psf figures across years.
Less unsold stock, and fewer en blocs
Two supply forces stand out. When unsold inventory falls, bids rise: EdgeProp estimates winning bids were about 4 to 5 per cent higher for every 10 per cent drop in unsold stock in the year before a tender closed. Unsold stock is down again in 2026.
And the en bloc route has largely closed. Collective sales peaked at 38 in 2018 before the July 2018 cooling measures lifted developers' Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty, and it was raised again in December 2021. Since 2022 the government's own land has supplied at least 69 per cent of new private residential floor area each year, against under 30 per cent in 2017 and 2018. Roov's en bloc sites tracker follows the collective sales that are still being tried, and this year's new en bloc thresholds law may change how many succeed.
Competition is not the reason. Bids per site have not passed 6.2 a year since 2022, against 7.9 to 13.3 in 2016 to 2018. What has risen is the number of developers per winning bid, 2.2 so far in 2026, as consortia share the risk of larger, dearer sites.
What Roov's GLS tracker shows this year
Roov's GLS tracker records this year's awarded residential sites:
Peck Hay Road (CCR): $1,865 psf ppr, four bids River Valley Green Parcel C (CCR): $1,730 psf ppr, four bids Lorong Puntong/Sin Ming Avenue (RCR): $1,612 psf ppr, seven bids, a record for the city fringe New Upper Changi Road (OCR): $1,537 psf ppr, four bids Berlayar Drive (RCR): $1,515 psf ppr, a single bid Bayshore Drive (OCR): $1,323 psf ppr, three bids
The executive condominium site at Canberra Drive drew 13 bids at $825 psf ppr, a record for an EC site. We covered the Sin Ming record and Canberra Drive when they closed.
What it means for launch prices
Most projects launching now sit on land bought in 2022 to 2024, at about $1,100 to $1,200 psf ppr. The land behind the next wave cost more. Roov's land-price model, with its standard build-cost and financing assumptions and the stamp duties in force, puts a site bought at $1,200 psf ppr at an indicative launch price of about $2,610 psf. At 2026's average of $1,465 psf ppr the same model lands at about $3,010 psf. Each extra $100 psf ppr of land adds roughly $150 psf to the price a buyer pays.
Location still decides how much of that sticks. A site next to an MRT station with little competing supply can carry a higher price; one further out, beside other launches, cannot. Our guide to how land bids become launch prices walks through the arithmetic, and Roov's developer break-even tool runs it for any site.
If you are buying in the next two years
Expect new launches on 2025 and 2026 land to be priced above the projects selling today, especially in the suburbs where land rose fastest. That makes the existing resale market nearby the useful yardstick. Roov's resale versus new launch comparison sets the two side by side on total cost, and the affordability calculator shows what loan your income supports before you visit a showflat.
Weighing a new launch against resale, or wondering whether to buy now or wait for the next wave? Roov's agent can run the numbers on the projects you are considering. Get in touch.