Although home sales have been robust, developers kept their land banks healthy with new land sites coming onstream.
DTZ Research revealed that many developers have thousands of units in their landbanks. City Developments and its parent company Hong Leong Group own the biggest stock with 6,053 homes, accounted for by projects such as Bartley Residences (pictured) and Hedges Park, as well as land parcels in Pasir Ris.
Privately-held Far East Organization is next with 2,592 units.
Other developers are noticeably behind – Frasers Centrepoint, CapitaLand, Keppel Land and Allgreen Properties all have landbanks of less than 2,000 units, while GuocoLand, Wheelock Properties and UOL Group have fewer than 1,000 homes each.
The top 10 list for most landbanks includes some new foreign players that have entered into the local market.
Chinese firm Qingjian Realty and Malaysian-based IOI Corp are ranked nine and 10 respectively, while Chinese firm MCC Land clinched 12th spot.
“Some of these foreign developers started out as construction companies and, seeing the good sales and profit margins to be made, it is a natural step for them to become developers. Others are also diversifying out of their own countries,” said Chua Chor Hoon, Research Head at DTZ Asia-Pacific.
Strong sales helped avoid landbanks from being depleted in spite of the large number of new homes sold, which has reached 32,300 units in the past two years.
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