More support for private home buyers, supply of new private residential units to be boosted: Chee Hong Tat

Regulations to better safeguard the interests of private residential homeowners will be enhanced in order to help them make informed decisions and also ensure a level playing field for developers, announced National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat.

He was speaking at the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore's (Redas) 66th anniversary dinner on Nov. 13.

Chee also outlined pro-business efforts that will help developers.

Enhancing support for home buyers

As part of the new regulations, developers will be required to furnish additional details on new housing projects in sales documents, including marking the structural walls and refuse chambers in the site plan.

"This is to provide upfront clarity to home buyers on the layout plans, to reduce possible disagreements between developers and buyers downstream," Chee said.

Developers will also be required to provide information to prospective home buyers on their track records, including the Construction Quality Assessment System (Conquas) banding of their past projects.

Conquas serves as a national standard for assessing the construction workmanship quality of new building projects.

"This will allow prospective home buyers to compare developers’ project quality standards and better identify developers that have consistently delivered good quality projects," Chee said.

Additionally, the commencement date for the one-year defects liability period and home buyers’ liability for maintenance charges will be adjusted.

It currently commences on the date of delivery of vacant possession of the property, or the 15th day after payment notice is issued at the temporary occupation permit (TOP) stage, whichever is earlier.

It will now be changed to the date of delivery of vacant possession of the property or 35th day after the progress payment notice is issued.

"This is to better align the defects liability period to when home buyers take possession of their units, as developers currently have 21 days to deliver possession after they collect the progress payment," Chee explained.

These changes are expected to take place in early 2026.

Conquas for private residential developments

Expanding more on the Conquas framework, Chee said the government has worked with industry stakeholders like Redas to enhance the framework for private residential developments to keep pace with new developments.

The new enhancements will come in effect from Apr. 1, 2026.

Assessment priorities will be refocused on functionality and liveability defects that "matter most to homeowners", including water seepage and ponding, he said.

Assessments will also be streamlined by reducing checks on areas with minimal impact on functionality and liveability, such as removable stains and tonality.

In addition, about 30 per cent of the defects categories that do not impact liveability significantly will be removed.

"These enhancements ensure that our construction standards evolve to meet residents’ needs, whilst supporting industry productivity and growth," Chee said.

Homeowners can thus look forward to better quality homes with fewer defects that impact functionality and liveability.

At the same time, developers and builders will enjoy time savings through more efficient assessments, he said, adding that firms with consistently good Conquas bandings can enjoy 20 per cent time savings from their assessment durations.

The new Conquas (Private Residential) requirements will apply to private residential projects and residential components of mixed developments with construction tenders called from Apr. 1, 2026.

Improvements to temporary occupation licence (TOL) process

Another improvement that will be made to support developers will be to simplify the process of sourcing showflat sites.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) have pre-identified a list of vacant sites that the relevant agencies have supported for showflat use, Chee said.

Starting from Nov. 14, this list will be made available through SLA’s portal for Temporary Occupation Licences.

"This will enable developers to enjoy significant time savings of about six weeks and halve the time it currently takes to obtain agencies’ approvals," he said.

Those who find the pre-identified sites unsuitable for their use may identify other sites and submit their applications to SLA under the usual process, URA stated in a circular.

Chee also encouraged developers to continue adopting innovative and land-efficient approaches, such as virtual showflats, given Singapore's limited supply of land.

Meeting housing demand

Chee also spoke about meeting strong housing demand over the next few years.

The government has ramped up the supply of both public and private housing over the past few years, and will continue to sustain a high level of supply over the next few years, he noted.

From 2025 to 2027, around 55,000 Build-To-Order flats will be launched and land will be released for more than 25,000 private residential units through the Government Land Sales programme.

In the upcoming GLS programme for the first half of 2026, the government will release land to sustain a steady supply injection of about 4,500 new private residential units, which is comparable to the second half of 2025, Chee said.

This will bring the overall supply pipeline to more than 58,000 units.

Top photos from Eddie Lim/LinkedIn