CDL, Hong Realty top bidder for Serangoon site

[land118]

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/1147362/1/.html


Serangoon Garden Way residential site gets highest bid of S$105m
By Arthur Sim | Posted: 16 August 2011 2030 hrs
*
SINGAPORE: The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has announced that the tender for a residential site for landed homes in Serangoon Garden Way has closed with the highest bid coming in at S$105 million.

The bid came from a joint venture (JV) between City Developments Ltd (CDL) and Hong Realty under their wholly-owned subsidiaries Sunmaster Holdings Pte Ltd and Garden Estates (Pte) Limited respectively.

URA said a total of 16 bids were received.

The JV's bid was about 10 per cent higher than the second highest bid by ZACD Investments and about 18 per cent higher than the third highest bid from Peak Shines Pte Ltd.

A CDL spokesperson said: "CDL is familiar with the Serangoon Gardens area, having launched Goldenhill Villas, a freehold terraced-housing development located just minutes away from the Lorong Chuan MRT station, in 2004. Incidentally, this was also the last landed housing development undertaken by CDL in recent years."

In the event that CDL and Hong Realty are awarded the site, they will explore in detail a proposed terrace housing development, with an expected launch in 2012.

"Given the very limited supply of landed homes in Singapore, we expect this development to be well received," CDL's spokesperson added.

The site will be sold on a 99-year lease. Based on the site area of 28,401.5 sq metres, the unit land price works out to be S$3,696.99 per square metres of site area.

URA said a decision on the award of the tender will be made after the bids have been evaluated.

- CNA /ls

[land118]

21 June 2011
http://www.ura.gov.sg/pr/text/2011/pr11-75.html

URA launches tender for residential sites
at Upper Serangoon Road / Pheng Geck Avenue (Parcel A) and Serangoon Garden Way
.....

Land Parcel at Serangoon Garden Way

Located in the northeastern part of Singapore, this 2.84 ha land parcel can potentially yield about 80 landed housing units.

The site is located within the established landed housing estate at Serangoon Garden, and is easily accessible via major roads and expressways such as the Central Expressway.

[proper-t]

Business Times - 17 Aug 2011

CDL, Hong Realty top bidder for Serangoon site
By NICHOLAS YEO
A TENDER for a 99-year, 305,711 square foot landed housing site at Serangoon Garden Way drew 16 bids yesterday with the highest bid of $105 million, or $343 per square foot (psf) of land area, from a tie-up between City Developments and Hong Realty.

CDL said that it is planning to develop terrace houses and intends to launch the project next year. The group is familiar with the area, having launched the nearby Goldenhill Villas, a freehold terraced-housing development, in 2004.

Its top bid was 10.4 per cent higher than the next highest offer of $95.13 million, or $311 psf of land area, by ZACD Investments (a spin-off of SLP International's investment arm, headed by SLP founder Stanley Yeo).
The third highest bid came from Peak Shines, a subsidiary of Kheng Leong, at $89 million or $291 psf of land area.

The bulk of the bids hovered in the $80 million range - with bids coming in from EL Development, MCL Land, Lucrum Development, and SK Land. The two lowest bids were from Wee Hur Development at $57.6 million ($188 psf) and Bergendale Investments at $22.2 million ($73 psf).
The top bid achieved for the site is in line with Credo executive director Ong Teck Hui's forecast, made when the site was launched in late June, that it would exceed $100 million or $320 psf. 'But the tender participation was stronger than I had expected,' Mr Ong said yesterday.
'The keen interest by so many parties is due to the fact that landed sites are scarce, so developers who are keen to develop landed homes have no choice but to bid for sites such as this.'

Furthermore, there is generally good demand for landed homes, and Serangoon Gardens is a popular location among landed buyers, he added.
However, market watchers noted the site's drawbacks - it is next to the Central Expressway, and building height is limited to two storeys.
Mr Ong noted that the supply of landed homes dropped from 35 per cent of total private residential stock a decade ago to 27 per cent currently.
Over the past decade, non-landed stock grew 55 per cent while landed supply grew merely six per cent.

'Looking at homes under construction as of mid-2011, there are more than 42,000 non-landed units being constructed but only about 2,000 landed ones being built. So over time, landed properties will become even more scarce relative to non-landed,' he added.

Nicholas Mak, executive director (research and consultancy) of SLP International, too, noted: 'The landed segment has shown strong price growth since 2009, when the growth in this sector almost doubled that of the non-landed sector.'

Mr Mak estimated that a total of 80-90 units consisting of 'mostly terraces' will be built 'to maximise land value, with the smallest unit priced from $2.2 million'. As strata housing is not allowed for the site, 'about 40 to 50 per cent of the site will have to used for utilities and roads'. This reflects a land-use efficiency of approximately 50-60 per cent.

Mr Mak also noted that the average transacted prices for semi-detached and terrace houses in Serangoon Garden Estate in H1 2011 were about $1,001 and $1,028 psf of land area respectively.

Based on these past transactions, and a 60 per cent land-use efficiency, the developer is expected to get about $180-190 million in revenue.

[Wild Falcon]

Winning bid of $300+psf is pathetic. Looks like many developers throw in low-ball bids for fun - high number of bids is meaningless if some bids are $100psf. Maybe developers no longer hot on landed or Serangoon Gardens?

[devilplate]

Winning bid of $300+psf is pathetic. Looks like many developers throw in low-ball bids for fun - high number of bids is meaningless if some bids are $100psf. Maybe developers no longer hot on landed or Serangoon Gardens?
Pls read the latest article.....based on land efficiency and land psf, expected selling px is 1kpsf land for a 99lh landed!:scared-1:

[land118]

Tis plot is 99LH unlike most of Serangoon Gardens which is on 999LH land, and plot is beside CTE and also beside Singapore Cheshire Home (old folks home ), site not exactly great...

Having said that, CDL would like build similar to those Goldenhill villas which they launch some years back, probably terrace of land of 1600-1800 sqft, built-in of 3k sqft, 2.5sty terrace...My guess they will launch at 2.5m-3mil on average..still...

[devilplate]

Tis plot is 99LH unlike most of Serangoon Gardens which is on 999LH land, and plot is beside CTE and also beside Singapore Cheshire Home (old folks home ), site not exactly great...

Having said that, CDL would like build similar to those Goldenhill villas which they launch some years back, probably terrace of land of 1600-1800 sqft, built-in of 3k sqft, 2.5sty terrace...My guess they will launch at 2.5m-3mil on average..still...
Tat is 1500psf for the land:scared-1: :scared-1: :scared-1: :scared-1: :scared-1:

[land118]

Tat is 1500psf for the land:scared-1: :scared-1: :scared-1: :scared-1: :scared-1: See plot in URA doc ( http://www.ura.gov.sg/sales/SGNGdnWay/CL/salebrochure.pdf) , beside busy CTE..., long narrow strip of land, barren plot at this moment...

As per the BT report:
"...As strata housing is not allowed for the site, 'about 40 to 50 per cent of the site will have to used for utilities and roads'. This reflects a land-use efficiency of approximately 50-60 per cent"...

mean effective price of land use for building those new terrace house is double...like $343 x 2 psf...

[Wild Falcon]

99LH landed is a no-go for me - there are already real-life examples of what happen to their value as the lease term run down. 99LH apartment can still consider.


Pls read the latest article.....based on land efficiency and land psf, expected selling px is 1kpsf land for a 99lh landed!:scared-1:

[ecimbew]

Chomp Chomp is nearby

http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20110621/SerangoonGarden.jpg

[nobrainer32007]

Wat so great about chomp chomp.



Chomp Chomp is nearby

http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20110621/SerangoonGarden.jpg

[land118]

Attraction is this is a pure landed estate, French and Australian in close proximity. There are many expats from this 2 countries staying in estate now. Becoming Holland V of the east, combination of food ( Chomp Chomp- may say nothing great but on weekend, many from other places still flocked to estate, can see the traffic), My Village mall and pubs...., near good schools like Roysth , think it's within 1km-2km...depending on exact location of house..

Since CDL is willing to put in top bid, it should be quite confident, anyway for them $105mil bid is small ...., they have deeper holding power than most others..., depending on economic climate at launch date, I believe, it should still see decent sales at launch as the CDL branding itself is normally well received by buyers.:2cents:

Likely not vested...as it is 99LH, just my personal choice...

[devilplate]

I tink nxt yr our ppty will be peak peak with 99lh ocr landed hitting 1500psf!:cheers1:

Offload some next yr and buy a nice 2nd hand porky during next recession:D
Paisey i m dreaming....hehe

[land118]

I tink nxt yr our ppty will be peak peak with 99lh ocr landed hitting 1500psf!:cheers1:

Offload some next yr and buy a nice 2nd hand porky during next recession:D
Paisey i m dreaming....hehe
Noted...worry about 99LH whether landed or non landed which are not within walking distance from MRT..., going to monitor....with eyes open and with glasses if need be....

[Duku]

Noted...worry about 99LH whether landed or non landed which are not within walking distance from MRT..., going to monitor....with eyes open and with glasses if need be....

Think most landed owners have a car. Dont think that is going to play much into the landed factor. In fact, some would prefer to stay away from MRT area due to percieved congestion

By the way if 99 LH landed goes for 1500 psf brand new base on land , would not surprise me if freehold brand new (if any) goes 1800 to 2000 psf.

Given build up cost of 300 psf , free hold land by itself would be a minimum 1000 psf to 1500 psf in Serangoon.

Don't think a bust up will affect Singapore so much. On the contary , hot money may just flow in Singapore as a result of another recession if any. (Given its 'stablilty' and AAA grading)
We have not seen the peak yet.

[land118]

Don't think a bust up will affect Singapore so much. On the contary , hot money may just flow in Singapore as a result of another recession if any. (Given its 'stablilty' and AAA grading)
We have not seen the peak yet. Agree with you on the flow of hot money in Singapore...as seen by Singapore AAA rating, resulting in rising SGD, low SOR:

http://classic.cnbc.com/id/44172570

"So much foreign money is flowing into Singapore dollars that investors are speculating authorities might try to slow the currency's rise (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/17/singapore-sor-idUSL3E7JF0F020110817)"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/17/singapore-sor-idUSL3E7JF0F020110817

Negative swap rate signals Singapore rethink on SGD rise
By Kevin Lim (http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=kevin.lim&)
SINGAPORE | Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:04am EDT

SINGAPORE Aug 17 (Reuters) - Singapore is attracting an unwelcome flood of U.S. dollars that has caused a key interest rate to turn negative, complicating efforts to dampen inflation and prompting speculation the central bank will tweak its policy to slow the rapid rise in the country's currency (http://forums.condosingapore.com/finance/currencies).
While Singapore prides itself on having a highly globalised and open economy (http://forums.condosingapore.com/finance/economy), the stream of investors seeking refuge from international market turmoil in recent weeks could fuel price pressures on the tiny island, adding to fears of a potential property bubble, even as the economy shows signs of slowing.
That could persuade the city's central bank to reconsider its policy on allowing further appreciation in the local currency.
Authorities have allowed the Singapore dollar to gain 6.5 percent against the U.S. dollar so far this year, the most among Asian currencies (http://forums.condosingapore.com/finance/currency), to curb imported inflation and as investors shy away from the United States and Europe where governments are struggling to resolve debt issues.
As global markets (http://forums.condosingapore.com/finance/markets) plunged last week, the Singapore dollar swap offer rate (SOR) fell below zero for the first time due to inflows into the Singapore dollar. The rate reflects lending costs as well as the expected forward exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and Singapore currency.
The three-month SOR was fixed at minus 0.06 on Tuesday, widening from Monday's minus 0.01. It fell below zero on Aug 10.
Singapore's current policy stance is to allow a gradual appreciation of the local dollar against a basket of currencies to curb price pressures.
That stance, however, has attracted even more safe-haven inflows into the AAA-rated Southeast Asian city-state, threatening to magnify existing price pressures and hurting local banks by reducing their already low loan margins.
"A case could be made to argue for a slower pace of appreciation in light of the recent (downward) revision in the city-state's non-oil domestic exports," said Maybank head of FX research Saktiandi Supaat.
Several traders speculate that the fall in SOR to negative levels, due in part to the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) failure to mop up excess liquidity, was an attempt by the central bank to discourage inflows.
Some said the fall in SOR could even be a signal that MAS might ease monetary policy to a slower or even zero percent Singapore dollar appreciation stance, since the strong inflows have had the adverse effect of fuelling inflationary pressures.
"We currently also have a parallel, but not identical, situation in the Swiss franc, where the Swiss National Bank, is attempting to engineer negative interest rates to discourage strength in the franc," Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp said in a note to clients.
Asian countries such as South Korea (http://forums.condosingapore.com/places/south-korea) have already taken steps to discourage hot money inflows while other AAA-rated nations such as Switzerland are trying to force down the value of their currencies, fearing big gains may threaten their export competitiveness even as global demand slows.
MAS reportedly intervened in currency markets earlier this week to prevent the U.S. dollar from falling below S$1.20.
Lorraine Tan, director of research for Asian strategies at Standard & Poor's, said MAS will continue to maintain an appreciating currency bias as it was its main tool against inflation.
"But inflationary pressures have come down and there is less reason for MAS to let the Singapore dollar appreciate so much," she added.
Reflecting global weakness, Singapore's economy is also slowing. Data on Tuesday showed non-oil domestic exports registering a surprise fall in July as electronics shipments contracted for a sixth consecutive month.
The weak trade figures raise the odds of the city-state sinking into a technical recession in the third quarter, after activity contracted in April-June, economists from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and CIMB said.
Citigroup economist Kit Wei Zheng said "in the event that MAS decides to steer the NEER (nominal effective exchange rate) lower, the initial reaction would probably be a lower/negative SOR fixing in the first instance to deter inflows".
"Once the NEER has depreciated and market expectations shift towards a neutral or weaker Singapore dollar, the SOR could then rise. This two-step process was also observed in July/August 2008" when Singapore let its currency fall, he added.

BANK MARGINS
Singapore's three banking groups posted higher second quarter net profits as loans grew by 20-plus percent and interest margins stabilised, but the fall in SOR to negative levels shows lending margins remain under pressure.
DBS , Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and United Overseas Bank , along with foreign banks in the city-state, price some of their loans at a premium over SOR, which is fixed daily by the Association of Banks in Singapore.
Nomura analyst Anand Pathmakanthan said that while banks typically have provisions within their loan agreements to reset the reference rate to zero, "this nonetheless still implies a 20 basis points-plus decline in total yield as compared to just two weeks ago."
The three-month SOR traded around plus 15 to 25 points during the month of July.
Singapore borrowing costs are already among the lowest in world, thanks to its high savings rate and safe image that helps it attract inflows from around the world.
Speaking to reporters last week, UOB Chief Financial Offier Lee Wai Fai said UOB had invoked "market disruption clauses" in most of its loan agreements that will allow it to either reset the benchmark to zero for mortages or use another reference in the case of corporate loans.
But he acknowledged Singapore's third-largest bank by assets had in the past priced some housing loans as low as SOR plus 75 basis points, which meant some lenders may soon be paying as 0.75 percent per annum on their morgages -- well below inflation which is running at 5-plus percent.
"Until safe haven flows subside or we see broad U.S. dollar strength, SOR fixings will probably staying low or negative in the near term," said Citi's Kit.
(Reporting by Kevin Lim; Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar)

[DC33_2008]

Looking forward to $1.10 to 1 USD.
Agree with you on the flow of hot money in Singapore...as seen by Singapore AAA rating, resulting in rising SGD, low SOR:

http://classic.cnbc.com/id/44172570

"So much foreign money is flowing into Singapore dollars that investors are speculating authorities might try to slow the currency's rise (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/17/singapore-sor-idUSL3E7JF0F020110817)"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/17/singapore-sor-idUSL3E7JF0F020110817

Negative swap rate signals Singapore rethink on SGD rise
By Kevin Lim (http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=kevin.lim&)
SINGAPORE | Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:04am EDT

SINGAPORE Aug 17 (Reuters) - Singapore is attracting an unwelcome flood of U.S. dollars that has caused a key interest rate to turn negative, complicating efforts to dampen inflation and prompting speculation the central bank will tweak its policy to slow the rapid rise in the country's currency (http://forums.condosingapore.com/finance/currencies).
While Singapore prides itself on having a highly globalised and open economy (http://forums.condosingapore.com/finance/economy), the stream of investors seeking refuge from international market turmoil in recent weeks could fuel price pressures on the tiny island, adding to fears of a potential property bubble, even as the economy shows signs of slowing.
That could persuade the city's central bank to reconsider its policy on allowing further appreciation in the local currency.
Authorities have allowed the Singapore dollar to gain 6.5 percent against the U.S. dollar so far this year, the most among Asian currencies (http://forums.condosingapore.com/finance/currency), to curb imported inflation and as investors shy away from the United States and Europe where governments are struggling to resolve debt issues.
As global markets (http://forums.condosingapore.com/finance/markets) plunged last week, the Singapore dollar swap offer rate (SOR) fell below zero for the first time due to inflows into the Singapore dollar. The rate reflects lending costs as well as the expected forward exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and Singapore currency.
The three-month SOR was fixed at minus 0.06 on Tuesday, widening from Monday's minus 0.01. It fell below zero on Aug 10.
Singapore's current policy stance is to allow a gradual appreciation of the local dollar against a basket of currencies to curb price pressures.
That stance, however, has attracted even more safe-haven inflows into the AAA-rated Southeast Asian city-state, threatening to magnify existing price pressures and hurting local banks by reducing their already low loan margins.
"A case could be made to argue for a slower pace of appreciation in light of the recent (downward) revision in the city-state's non-oil domestic exports," said Maybank head of FX research Saktiandi Supaat.
Several traders speculate that the fall in SOR to negative levels, due in part to the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) failure to mop up excess liquidity, was an attempt by the central bank to discourage inflows.
Some said the fall in SOR could even be a signal that MAS might ease monetary policy to a slower or even zero percent Singapore dollar appreciation stance, since the strong inflows have had the adverse effect of fuelling inflationary pressures.
"We currently also have a parallel, but not identical, situation in the Swiss franc, where the Swiss National Bank, is attempting to engineer negative interest rates to discourage strength in the franc," Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp said in a note to clients.
Asian countries such as South Korea (http://forums.condosingapore.com/places/south-korea) have already taken steps to discourage hot money inflows while other AAA-rated nations such as Switzerland are trying to force down the value of their currencies, fearing big gains may threaten their export competitiveness even as global demand slows.
MAS reportedly intervened in currency markets earlier this week to prevent the U.S. dollar from falling below S$1.20.
Lorraine Tan, director of research for Asian strategies at Standard & Poor's, said MAS will continue to maintain an appreciating currency bias as it was its main tool against inflation.
"But inflationary pressures have come down and there is less reason for MAS to let the Singapore dollar appreciate so much," she added.
Reflecting global weakness, Singapore's economy is also slowing. Data on Tuesday showed non-oil domestic exports registering a surprise fall in July as electronics shipments contracted for a sixth consecutive month.
The weak trade figures raise the odds of the city-state sinking into a technical recession in the third quarter, after activity contracted in April-June, economists from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and CIMB said.
Citigroup economist Kit Wei Zheng said "in the event that MAS decides to steer the NEER (nominal effective exchange rate) lower, the initial reaction would probably be a lower/negative SOR fixing in the first instance to deter inflows".
"Once the NEER has depreciated and market expectations shift towards a neutral or weaker Singapore dollar, the SOR could then rise. This two-step process was also observed in July/August 2008" when Singapore let its currency fall, he added.

BANK MARGINS
Singapore's three banking groups posted higher second quarter net profits as loans grew by 20-plus percent and interest margins stabilised, but the fall in SOR to negative levels shows lending margins remain under pressure.
DBS , Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and United Overseas Bank , along with foreign banks in the city-state, price some of their loans at a premium over SOR, which is fixed daily by the Association of Banks in Singapore.
Nomura analyst Anand Pathmakanthan said that while banks typically have provisions within their loan agreements to reset the reference rate to zero, "this nonetheless still implies a 20 basis points-plus decline in total yield as compared to just two weeks ago."
The three-month SOR traded around plus 15 to 25 points during the month of July.
Singapore borrowing costs are already among the lowest in world, thanks to its high savings rate and safe image that helps it attract inflows from around the world.
Speaking to reporters last week, UOB Chief Financial Offier Lee Wai Fai said UOB had invoked "market disruption clauses" in most of its loan agreements that will allow it to either reset the benchmark to zero for mortages or use another reference in the case of corporate loans.
But he acknowledged Singapore's third-largest bank by assets had in the past priced some housing loans as low as SOR plus 75 basis points, which meant some lenders may soon be paying as 0.75 percent per annum on their morgages -- well below inflation which is running at 5-plus percent.
"Until safe haven flows subside or we see broad U.S. dollar strength, SOR fixings will probably staying low or negative in the near term," said Citi's Kit.
(Reporting by Kevin Lim; Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar)

[devilplate]

Looking forward to $1.10 to 1 USD.

tat will be great! i will be gg to LV next yr hopefully.....can afford to lose more! whahahaa

[land118]

Looking forward to $1.10 to 1 USD. Much will still depend on MAS, if they allow the SGD to further strengthen. Personally, S$1.15 - US$1 probably can see ...soon. Much depend on inflation figures...and MAS also need to balance with our export competitiveness...

Time to go US for shopping spree...

[Rysk]

Chomp Chomp is nearby

http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20110621/SerangoonGarden.jpg


Walau! So deep inside.. :doh:

[bargain hunter]

deep still nevermind. beside cte somemore. :doh: :doh:


Walau! So deep inside.. :doh:

[wind30]

Think most landed owners have a car. Dont think that is going to play much into the landed factor. In fact, some would prefer to stay away from MRT area due to percieved congestion


Actually unless you have a driver... staying near MRT is impt especially if you have kids.

Of course no kids never mind lor because everyone can drive.

The location is extremely bad. So deep. if you have kids dunno how they are going to go out.

[land118]

Actually unless you have a driver... staying near MRT is impt especially if you have kids.

Of course no kids never mind lor because everyone can drive.

The location is extremely bad. So deep. if you have kids dunno how they are going to go out.
Can walk about 50-150m(depending on where your terrace house on new plot) to bus-stop along Berwick Drive and take Feeder bus to Serangoon interchange/Nex....doubt LTA will allow CDL will be allow to open internal road straight out to CTE

[mr funny]

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/news/story/0,4574,452413-1313611140,00.html?

Published August 17, 2011

CDL, Hong Realty top bidder for Serangoon site

By NICHOLAS YEO


A TENDER for a 99-year, 305,711 square foot landed housing site at Serangoon Garden Way drew 16 bids yesterday with the highest bid of $105 million, or $343 per square foot (psf) of land area, from a tie-up between City Developments and Hong Realty.

CDL said that it is planning to develop terrace houses and intends to launch the project next year. The group is familiar with the area, having launched the nearby Goldenhill Villas, a freehold terraced-housing development, in 2004.

Its top bid was 10.4 per cent higher than the next highest offer of $95.13 million, or $311 psf of land area, by ZACD Investments (a spin-off of SLP International's investment arm, headed by SLP founder Stanley Yeo).

The third highest bid came from Peak Shines, a subsidiary of Kheng Leong, at $89 million or $291 psf of land area.

The bulk of the bids hovered in the $80 million range - with bids coming in from EL Development, MCL Land, Lucrum Development, and SK Land. The two lowest bids were from Wee Hur Development at $57.6 million ($188 psf) and Bergendale Investments at $22.2 million ($73 psf).

The top bid achieved for the site is in line with Credo executive director Ong Teck Hui's forecast, made when the site was launched in late June, that it would exceed $100 million or $320 psf. 'But the tender participation was stronger than I had expected,' Mr Ong said yesterday.

'The keen interest by so many parties is due to the fact that landed sites are scarce, so developers who are keen to develop landed homes have no choice but to bid for sites such as this.'

Furthermore, there is generally good demand for landed homes, and Serangoon Gardens is a popular location among landed buyers, he added.

However, market watchers noted the site's drawbacks - it is next to the Central Expressway, and building height is limited to two storeys.

Mr Ong noted that the supply of landed homes dropped from 35 per cent of total private residential stock a decade ago to 27 per cent currently.

Over the past decade, non-landed stock grew 55 per cent while landed supply grew merely six per cent.

'Looking at homes under construction as of mid-2011, there are more than 42,000 non-landed units being constructed but only about 2,000 landed ones being built. So over time, landed properties will become even more scarce relative to non-landed,' he added.

Nicholas Mak, executive director (research and consultancy) of SLP International, too, noted: 'The landed segment has shown strong price growth since 2009, when the growth in this sector almost doubled that of the non-landed sector.'

Mr Mak estimated that a total of 80-90 units consisting of 'mostly terraces' will be built 'to maximise land value, with the smallest unit priced from $2.2 million'. As strata housing is not allowed for the site, 'about 40 to 50 per cent of the site will have to used for utilities and roads'. This reflects a land-use efficiency of approximately 50-60 per cent.

Mr Mak also noted that the average transacted prices for semi-detached and terrace houses in Serangoon Garden Estate in H1 2011 were about $1,001 and $1,028 psf of land area respectively.

Based on these past transactions, and a 60 per cent land-use efficiency, the developer is expected to get about $180-190 million in revenue.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2011-08-17/nyserangoon17.jpg