DEVELOPERS on Thursday gave a clear sign that amid today’s depressed sentiment and sales slump, they would stick to the tried and true and steer clear of risk.
A mixed-used site in the well-established regional centre of Tampines drew six bids on Thursday (Sep 19), in the strongest turnout a state land tender has seen in a year. A Hoi Hup Realty-Sunway Developments joint venture outbid five other parties with its bid of S$668.3 million or S$1,004 per square foot per plot ratio for the Tampines Street 94 site, which can yield 585 new homes and about 10,500 sq m of commercial space.
The top bid, coming in 1.9 per cent over the second-highest offer from Sing Holdings, was slightly above expectations. It was also 13.5 per cent higher than the S$885 psf ppr price that a much bigger mixed-use site nearby was sold for to UOL, Singapore Land and CapitaLand Development, in July 2023.
In contrast, an experimental site designated for 520 serviced apartments near the one-north office hub saw just one offer from a Frasers Property-led group. The consortium put in a S$120 million bid translating to S$461 psf ppr, far below what analysts had earlier estimated the plot could fetch and raising doubts that the tender would be awarded.
The Media Circle plot comes under a new rental category of long-term serviced apartments labelled SA2, that was introduced last year to help meet market demand. While it is the third SA2-type site to be put up for sale, it is the first “pure” serviced apartment project to be tendered, and comes with a shorter 60-year lease compared to the standard 99-year lease for state land parcels.
Earlier sites combining residential housing for sale with the SA2 component had also got the cold shoulder from industry players.
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