_Industry Insight: What URA’s Master Plan means for developers
Presenter
The URA Draft Master Plan 2025 is out, and with it, Singapore's latest roadmap for urban growth, climate resilience, and livability. But beneath the greenery and long-term vision lies a bigger conversation for the property sector. Where are the next value nodes, what will the post airbase landscape look like in 2030 and beyond, and how should investors and developers read between the lines?
Today we're asking: what should the real estate industry really be paying attention to in this latest master plan? Joining us is Leonard Tay, Head of Research at Knight Frank Singapore. Leonard brings sharp, data-backed insights into land use planning, property value and the long-term evolution of our built environment.
Now let's start with the top line reading. When you look at the Draft Master Plan 2025, what jumps out to you immediately? Is there a shift in tone or strategy from the 2019 version?
Leonard Tay
The Master Plan is typically created to drive the economy in Singapore. These are work locations in the form of offices as well as industries, but also where we live, and historically, it’s always been these two drivers being the main focus of the Master Plan. But over the past few Master Plans, there are other factors that have crept in. The latest Master Plan, in particular, is this importance placed on climate protecting the whole of Singapore in terms of planning, so we future proof our urban landscape against all sorts of increment weather, whether it's already in our faces, or whether it might be something that we have to predict or to prepare for in the future. Like rising sea levels.
Presenter
So you're talking more about climate resilience and greening. Can you perhaps elaborate on the integrated planning part of things?
Leonard Tay
So firstly, the Long Island has been announced some time ago. This is part of coastal protection, but as part of the infrastructural bill, there are also opportunities to put residential and all sorts of other living, as well as recreational spaces, in the process of protecting the coastline. The greening of Singapore overall, started off in previous master plans as just park connectors and having green lungs all over the island. I think this has become more in our faces, and it's become no longer a good to have, but a must have in almost every location, whether it be for employment zones or residential zones
Presenter
It's almost as if URA is stress testing the city's future readiness.
Leonard Tay
I think they are prepping the future readiness of Singapore.
Presenter
Okay, now let's talk about what feels like the biggest long term unlock, the relocation of Paya Lebar Airbase. 800 hectares is a huge chunk of land. What's your take on the scale and opportunity of this?
Leonard Tay
800 hectares, pun intended, is a long runway for planners and developers to slowly grow that up from ground level. It won’t come up overnight, so there's a chance over time, and this will soak up Singapore's demand for all sorts of uses, especially residential, retail, and recreational over maybe 10, 20 years or so. I think it will meet most of our living needs and recreational needs.
A spin-off to that also is without the height restriction in and around what is now Paya Lebar Airbase, there's opportunity for existing land plots in and around the area, especially in the East and the flight path of Paya Lebar Airbase, to have their plot ratios increased. Usually in the past, when there’s an enhancement because of increased plot ratios, the en bloc opportunity is enhanced also, and this gives further incentive to rejuvenate or to renew older sites.
Presenter
So suddenly it opens up entirely new development possibilities. But as someone living in the East, I'm not quite sure I'm ready for the skyline to be changed. Would it be fair to say that even though this kicks in only post 2030, landowners or developers nearby, say, in MacPherson, Bartley or Hougang should already be reviewing their asset strategy?
Leonard Tay
2030 is still some time away, and I don't think right now the government has really posted any increases in the areas in and around Para Lebar Airbase just yet, so I think it's a future consideration that they should just keep in the back of their minds.
Presenter
The other headline grabber to me is the green push. We're talking 25 new parks and over 50 kilometres of park connectors and biodiversity corridors like the one through Kranji. But from a property point of view, how real is the value impact of this?
Leonard Tay
It’s difficult to measure parks in terms of dollars and cents, because it should be free to use for everyone. It's public space, so it's a good that it is not for profit. But if you have green arteries throughout the island, I think it enhances the quality of life for ordinary residents, and it just cuts across all social income brackets. Young and old, low, middle, high income, everything’s there for everyone to enjoy, and that's the way it should be. And at the same time, it also brings a certain standard of life in our urban environment. It's not just highly stressed, kind of concrete jungle, pressure cooker that we're living in.
Presenter
In terms of ESG, are we seeing institutional buyers place more weight on such factors?
Leonard Tay
Yes, I think they are. And I think this is also spinning off into individual developments. There is a greater call for end users, whether they be residents who have bought units within a particular development, or office users in big commercial complexes. There is a growing awareness, and hence growing demand or desire for the greening of concrete, regardless of what type of building use we have in our urban landscape.
Presenter
Interesting. It feels like we're moving from green is nice to have to green is must-build into the financial model. Now, I want to ask what's not in the draft, because sometimes that's just as telling. Were there any omissions or silences that perhaps caught your attention?
Leonard Tay
No, I think this is a pretty good draft. It's all encompassing. It keeps to the traditional planning for living and working demands, and it also has a greater contribution of the play factor compared to earlier Master Plans when Singapore was just a developing nation.
The areas where the government has designated a growth story, especially in the fringe areas, for example, Bishan, Greater One-North, which is kind of annexed to One-North Business Park, have a kind of centrality, in fairly well trafficked, popular areas, rather than places in the far east or west.
Presenter
Anything to read between the lines, maybe infrastructural breadcrumbs or different zoning signals?
Leonard Tay
I think it's been quite explicit. One thing that does strike me is the government is trying to think of out-of the box solutions. That means it's not just surface level, but you know, considering things that are underground, we don't have a big land mass, so we just have to make use of everything we can. So that's thinking beyond just ground level or above ground, to include underground now. I think we have to do so.
Presenter
Okay, before we let you go, let's wrap with your advice to different parts of the ecosystem. If I were a developer, what should I be doing now, before the Master Plan is finalized?
Leonard Tay
I think developers just keep their eyes open on the bigger emerging story, and as a result, whenever government land sales lists are announced or when collective sales sites are offered, they've just tied it in, into how this can evoke a growth story for the locality that they are shortlisting.
Presenter
And if I'm a mid- to long-term investor, someone perhaps looking beyond 2025 into the 2030 horizon, where should I be focusing?
Leonard Tay
I think the future proofing element has a strong play here because investors right now where uncertainty is growing and almost on a daily basis, we have some kind of destabilization with bad news from some part of the world, I think the Master Plan is kind of proof that Singapore is determined to keep not only its physical, but it's human landscape as stable as possible. And in a time of uncertainty, I think stability is that blue chip card for investors, who are scouring the world for a safe haven, a safe harbour where their investment will not be threatened. It's some kind of security.
Presenter
Okay, so I guess this draft plan really gives you a strong directional map.
Leonard Tay
It does, it does.
Presenter
Okay, thank you so much for your insights, Leonard from post airbase potential to green corridors becoming financial corridors, I think this draft Master Plan isn't just about shaping spaces, you know it's definitely about unlocking value, and managing risk as well and staying ahead of where Singapore is headed. Big thank you to you, Leonard Tay, Head of Research at Knight Frank Singapore.
Leonard Tay
Thanks so much, Lynlee.’