A unit of Guocoland submitted the highest bid for the Lentor Central site at $784 million, which works out to a land rate of $1,204.47 psf ppr, while a joint venture between Qingjian Realty and Santarli Construction submitted the top bid for the EC site at Tampines Street 62 at $422 million, or $659 psf ppr.
The tender for the private housing site at Lentor Central and the executive condominium (EC) site at Tampines Street 62 (Parcel A) closed on Thursday (22 July), with each site receiving nine bids.
“The current land bids indicate that developers remain optimistic about the future state of the Singapore property market. Land supply is low where demand continues to outstrip supply, especially in the suburban area. Therefore, the developers are expecting strong interest when the projects are launched,” said Christine Sun, Senior Vice President of Research & Analytics at OrangeTee & Tie.
A unit of Guocoland submitted the highest bid for the Lentor Central site at $784 million, which works out to a land rate of $1,204.47 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).
Nicholas Mak, ERA Singapore’s Head of Research and Consultancy, noted that this is 4.5% higher than the second-highest bid submitted by a consortium between Hong Leong Holdings, Hong Leong Investments and TID.
Zoned for residential development with commercial space on the first storey, the 99-year leasehold site is situated right at the doorstep of the upcoming Lentor MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL).
The Government sold two other land parcels with similar zoning in the past 12 months. One of the sites was located at Tanah Merah Kechil Link, next to the Tanah Merah MRT Station, while the other site at Race Course Road is expected to be connected to the Farrer Park MRT station.
Although the Lentor site is within the Outside Central Region (OCR) and the TEL is not fully operational yet, the land rate of $1,204 psf ppr for the Lentor site is higher than those of the two earlier sites, said Mak.
“This could be partly due to the growing preference for “integrated developments”. In addition, the developer could be planning to have the first-mover advantage in the Lentor area,” he added.
Sun expects the selling price for the Lentor project to range between $2,000 and $2,100 psf.
Meanwhile, a joint venture between Qingjian Realty and Santarli Construction submitted the top bid for the EC site at Tampines Street 62 at $422 million, or $659 psf ppr.
Mak said this is the “highest land rate to be paid for an EC site in the history of this type of housing”.
It broke the record land rate of $603 psf ppr for an EC site at Tengah Garden Walk, the last GLS EC land tender to close before this current tender.
In fact, six of the bids received for this site were above the previous record land rate.
Mark Yip, CEO of Huttons Asia, said developers were confident to put in the bid given the robust demand for this housing segment.
“As of June 2021, launched EC projects are 82% sold on average. Parc Central Residences EC in Tampines is around 85% sold so it is possible that in 15 months’ time, the site at Tampines Street 62 will be the only EC project in Tampines,” he said.
Sun expects the selling price for the Tampines EC to range between $1,250 and $1,300 psf.
“Based on URA caveats, the selling price for new ECs is inching closer to $1,200 psf this year, such as Piermont Grand EC, which was sold at a median price of $1,151 psf, Provence Residence EC at $1,150 psf, Parc Central Residences at $1,173 psf, OLA EC and Rivercove Residence EC both at $1,143 psf,” she said.
“Therefore, a median selling price of above $1,200 psf for new ECs could be breached when this plot is launched.”
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Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this story, email: victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg
