Huh? What Is A Reserve List?

Source : The Sunday Times, July 27, 2008

FINANCIAL QUOTIENT

Where do you see this?

In articles about property and Government announcements about the sale of land.

What does it mean?

It refers to a method of selling land that the Government introduced in June 2001.

A site on the reserve list will be put up for tender only if developers indicate interest in it by submitting a minimum bid that is acceptable to the Government.

Every six months, the Government rolls out its latest land sales programme. If sites on a reserve list are not triggered for sale in the six months they are made available, they will probably be carried over to the list for the following six months. Alternatively, the Government could put the sites on the confirmed list (see next week's column) for the following six months.

Why it is important?

This system introduces greater flexibility into the land sales programme, enabling the Government to respond to market demand. This land sale method was the only one employed by the Government for nearly four years, following the economic and property slowdown that set in after Sept 11.

Developers like this system as it is market-driven, allowing them to adjust supply to meet demand.

So you want to use the term. Just say ...

'Put off by weak sentiment and sales volumes, developers have held back from applying for reserve list sites so far this year.'