Woodlands: Singapore’s Northern Gateway

Singapore, 19 July 2016 – Recently, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) unveiled more plans for the Jurong Lake District, including a third precinct, Lakeside Gateway, and the use of adaptable spaces. Together with the announcement of the Jurong Innovation District in Budget 2016, it seems that Jurong is at the forefront of the government’s development plans. With all the hype over Jurong, it is easy to overlook other growth areas.Concurrent with the development of the Jurong Lake District, several other parts of Singapore have also been earmarked for further development. One of them is the Woodlands Regional Centre.
Woodlands New Town was identified as a regional centre when the idea of decentralization was first mooted as early as 1991. Slated to be developed over the next 10 to 15 years, Woodlands is envisioned to fulfil its potential as “Singapore’s Northern Gateway”. The government aims to achieve said vision by creating transit-oriented developments, drawing up distinctive districts, capitalising on the waterfront, and enhancing connectivity and green networks. Incidentally, Woodlands is the third regional centre to be developed, after Tampines in 1992, Jurong East in 2008, and preceding the fourth, Seletar.

In line with previous regional centres, Woodlands will undergo a transformation into a major employment hub outside the city centre. Approximately 100,000 new jobs are expected to be created and 100 hectares of land has been set aside for future development.

Already, plans are in place to beef up infrastructure to support the needs of the future regional centre. Transport connectivity is being improved as Woodlands is located some distance from the city centre and travelling times can be long. Come 2021, this problem is likely to be mitigated by the newly constructed Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) and North South Corridor (NSC). These new infrastructure projects will make Woodlands more accessible.

Two more Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations, Woodlands South and Woodlands North, both located on the TEL, are planned to be built in Woodlands town, bringing convenience to commuters. In addition, the current Woodlands station will become an interchange linking the North South Line and TEL. Travelling times are expected to be reduced as a result. For instance, commuting between Marine Parade and Woodlands by public transport will take 60 minutes instead of the current 80 once the TEL is operational, resulting in a reduction of 25%.

For those who drive, the NSC will be an important development. The 21.5 kilometre long highway is Singapore’s first integrated transport corridor and it will link Woodlands to the city centre, while passing through other towns such as Sembawang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan and Toa Payoh. Once completed, the NSC is expected to result in time savings of up to 15 minutes when travelling to the city. With dedicated cycling paths, express bus lanes and pedestrian walkways, the NSC is expected to complement the existing Seletar Expressway and Bukit Timah Expressway.

These transport developments will make Woodlands an attractive location to employers and employees.

Living up to its name as Singapore’s Northern Gateway, another cross border link will be introduced in Woodlands, in the form of the Singapore-Johor Rapid Transit System. This brings the total number of cross border links located in Woodlands to three, the other two being the Causeway and the KTMB Shuttle Train. In addition, the Woodlands North station has been designated as the Singapore station for the new link, which further enhances connectivity between Woodlands and Johor. This will make Woodlands an attractive destination for companies with business dealings in Malaysia and also Malaysian companies setting up operations in Singapore.

Following the successful sale of a commercial site in 2014, Woodlands has already begun its transformation. Far East Organisation and Sekisui House are currently developing Woods Square, an office and retail project, on said site. However, this is but the start of the development of Woodlands. URA has commenced the sale of a second commercial site in Woodlands and it is currently on the Reserve List of URA’s Government Land Sales Programme for the second half of 2016, which means it will be triggered for tender if an interested party submits a bid. Other sites will eventually be released. All in all, Woodlands Regional Centre has more than 7 million square feet of commercial space planned and when completed, is expected to be on the same scale as other regional centres. In addition, Woodlands Regional Centre will serve as the anchor of a larger commercial belt, the North Coast Innovation Corridor, which stretches from Woodlands to Punggol.

Naturally, property prices are expected to be affected. Looking back at Jurong, while there was no immediate spike in non-landed private residential property prices following the announcement of the plans for Jurong Lake District, median transacted prices of non-landed private residential property have since doubled since 2008 (Figure 1). To a lesser extent, median prices in neighbouring towns Bukit Batok and Clementi have also seen a significant increase (Figure 2). The development of Woodlands Regional Centre will likely result in a similar effect. Property prices in Woodlands and its neighbouring towns Yishun and Sembawang are also expected to rise as development plans materialise.

Buyers entering the market now could therefore stand to gain from the future upswing in prices. Given the flurry of new launches recently, buyers have no lack of choices. From Executive Condominiums (ECs) such as Northwave, Bellewoods, Forestville and Twin Fountains, which are strategically located in Woodlands, to The Brownstone and The Visionaire, which are adjacent to Canberra MRT station, or Signature at Yishun, one of the most affordable ECs in the market, as well as Skypark Residences, situated in the heart of Sembawang Central. Buyers can also consider private developments such as The Wisteria and Symphony Suites in Yishun.

Figure 1 Median price of non-landed private residential properties in Jurong

Source: URA Realis, ERA Research

Figure 2 Median price of non-landed private residential properties in Bukit Batok and Clementi

Source: URA Realis, ERA Research

Table 1 List of available projects in the North Region

Source: URA, ERA Research
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This article was contributed by Eugene Lim and Seah Yao Hui. Eugene Lim is the key executive officer and Seah Yao Hui is a research analyst at ERA Realty Network.