Linktown Residences is built on a 99-year leasehold site sold by the state under the Government Land Sales programme. Buyers own their homes for the remainder of that lease, which begins when the state grants it to the developer rather than when each home is sold.
When a GLS site is awarded, the state grants the successful tenderer a lease of the land for a fixed term: 99 years for most private residential and mixed-use sites. The Hougang Central site was awarded to the consortium of CICT, CapitaLand Development and UOL Group on 14 January 2026, on a 99-year lease covering the residential and commercial components of the development.
The developer builds the homes and sells them as strata units, each carrying a share of the land lease. A buyer's title runs for the balance of the 99 years from the start of the lease, so a home bought during the launch period carries almost the full term.
Most new private homes in the Outside Central Region sit on 99-year leases, because most new sites come from the Government Land Sales programme. Freehold land is scarcer and tends to be found in older estates and smaller parcels. A large, integrated development at a town centre, joined to an MRT interchange and a bus interchange, is the kind of site the state releases on a leasehold basis, and it is why Linktown Residences can offer a location that freehold land in Hougang rarely matches.
For a home on a long remaining lease, tenure does not limit bank financing in practice. The Loan-to-Value limits that apply are the standard private-property limits — 75 per cent on a first housing loan with a tenure of 30 years or less ending by age 65, and 55 per cent where the tenure exceeds 30 years or runs past 65, as at September 2026. The CPF rules on using savings for a purchase look at the remaining lease against the buyer's age, and a new 99-year lease sits comfortably within them.
The housing loan page sets out the LTV and TDSR rules, and the TDSR calculator estimates a loan for any income.
The Hougang Central site is zoned for mixed residential and commercial use at a plot ratio of 2.5. Within the same development sit about 830 homes, a mall of about 300,000 square feet of net lettable area, a new bus interchange and a town plaza. The residential lease and the commercial lease run from the same award, and the homes share the site with the facilities that make the address valuable.
Tenure is one factor among several. For a home at a town centre, linked to an MRT station that becomes an interchange in 2030, with a mall and bus interchange on site, location carries much of the long-term appeal. The project details page sets out the site facts, and the location page the setting.
A 99-year lease is long enough that its later years concern future owners far more than first buyers. For a development at the start of its lease, the remaining term stays well above the thresholds that matter to banks and to CPF for decades. As a lease shortens, those thresholds come into play, which is one reason new leasehold homes are priced and financed differently from older ones in the same area.
At the end of a lease, the land returns to the state. For large developments, owners may also consider a collective sale during the life of the lease, as many older estates in Singapore have done. Neither is a near-term question for a new launch, but both are part of understanding what leasehold means.
On an integrated development such as Hougang Central, the residential and commercial parts of the site run on the same 99-year lease from the same award. The mall owner, CICT, holds its part for the long term and has an interest in the town centre remaining attractive throughout. For residents, that alignment is part of the appeal: the facilities that make the address convenient are owned by a party that intends to keep them working.
The Hougang Central GLS explainer sets out the tender and lease, and the stamp duty page covers the duties that apply on purchase.