_Knight Frank Commentary (URA Draft Master Plan 2025)

The Draft Master Plan 2025 launch today takes an all-encompassing view of the physical geography in Singapore to accommodate priorities of living, working and recreation into one single strategy. Aside from the usual planning for housing, commercial/industrial areas, and other uses, climate protection in the form of adapting the built environment to become resilient to inclement weather, that includes rainfall, rising sea levels and heat has become more important from one Masterplan to the next, especially through harnessing the use of technology to future proof the island. This can only make Singapore more enduring as a place to live and attractive for investors over the long-term.

Another aspect that is also increasing in importance is the burgeoning injection of greenery in man-made neighbourhoods. Hence, the latest plan to embed environmental stewardship as integral to urban development, by building more than 25 new parks and extending over 50 km of park connectors between 2025 and 2030. The Kranji Nature Corridor will strengthen ecological links between the Central Catchment, Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat Nature Park, and the Rail Corridor. This includes new waterfront routes along Sungei Mandai and Kranji Reservoir, 11 km of nature ways along roads, and 8 km of recreational paths. This corridor will not only support biodiversity but also bring nature closer to homes in areas like Marsiling and the upcoming Kranji housing estate. Additionally, more therapeutic gardens will be introduced. Singapore aims to have 30 of such gardens by 2030, including new ones at Teachers’ Estate Park, expanding the current network of 18. Nature will also be more tightly integrated into residential areas, with new green spaces planned in neighbourhoods such as Farrer Park, Spottiswoode, and Woodgrove with green lungs a non-negotiable mainstay throughout the island. 

A game changer that can be expected from 2030 would be the relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase. With some 800-ha of land that is currently being taken up for military purposes, this will free up the development of residences, offices, factories and recreational areas, liberating height restrictions (imposed for the safe navigation of aircraft) of land plots in the East. Although higher plot ratios around Paya Lebar Airbase have not been announced in the 2025 Masterplan, it would not be unreasonable to envisage some collective sale opportunities, when older properties that are no longer shackled by low-rise plot ratios are able to realise enhancement in land values after-2030.