80,000 NEW HOMES AND COUNTING

A closer look at the latest land use masterplan shows that many more new homes are in the pipeline.

- Ng Keng Gene and Charlene Chua XZ

In the latest edition of Singapore's land use blueprint, at least 80,000 public and private homes are slated for construction across more than 10 new housing areas, including Bukit Timah Turf City and Marina South.

Some of these areas were already set aside for housing in the 2019 version of the masterplan, while others, such as the Singapore Racecourse in Kranji, have been rezoned.

Changes like these between the 2019 and 2025 editions of the masterplan have been detailed in an interactive published online by The Straits Times on Dec 21.

Collectively, they show how land-scarce Singapore recycles land to meet the needs of an ever-growing and ever-changing population.

They also demonstrate the country's attempts to balance redevelopment with the erasure of important social spaces, including through the conservation of built heritage.

In the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Master Plan 2025, gazetted on Dec 1, Singapore has also allotted space for thousands of other new homes outside new housing areas - many close to amenities in existing towns.

A closer look at changes between the 2019 and 2025 masterplans reveal where some of these will be located.

For example, new homes are set to be built in the town centres of Yishun and Pasir Ris, near the MRT stations of the respective towns.

And by Mountbatten MRT station, several reserve sites - plots of land for which a long-term use has yet to be determined - were amalgamated into a site that is about 9ha in size and is now zoned for residential use.

Demand for new homes has been high in recent years, driven in part by population growth. The younger segment of the population, however, has been shrinking, and schools have consequently made way for new homes.