MCL Land tops bids for Choa Chu Kang EC sites

[Ringo33]

MCL Land win big on this tender. This should secure them some land bank for the next few years.


SINGAPORE: MCL Land (Brighton) submitted the highest bids for two 99-year leasehold sites for Executive Condominium (EC) development at Chua Chu Kang Grove.
The two adjacent plots were put up for sale under the batch tender closing system, aimed at ensuring more prudent bids from developers.
According to the Housing and Development Board (HDB), the first plot, Parcel A, attracted a total of seven bids.
The top bid, from MCL Land (Brighton), came in at S$232.5 million, just half a per cent higher than the second-highest bid from JBE Holdings.

Meanwhile, there were four bids for Parcel B, with MCL Land (Brighton) placing the top bid of S$210.1 million.

This is 1.7 per cent above the second-highest bid jointly submitted by Verwood Holdings and TID Residential.

Each of the two sites measure about 16,450 square metres, and are expected to yield 575 units.

Analysts said the bidding showed that Parcel A commands a premium over Parcel B.

Desmond Sim, head of CBRE Research Singapore, said in per square foot terms, the top bid for Parcel B was 10 per cent lower than the top bid for Parcel A.

This reflected Parcel A's premium over Parcel B.

He noted that demand for ECs has also slowed down in recent months.


- CNA/gn

[sunrise]

MCL Land win big on this tender. This should secure them some land bank for the next few years.

for a size of 16,450 sq mtrs at 500+ units that very cramp, public transport is another issue for that area.

[reporter2]

http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/wednesday/premium/money/story/mcl-land-tops-bids-choa-chu-kang-ec-sites-20140226

MCL Land tops bids for Choa Chu Kang EC sites

It could combine adjacent plots into single development, say analysts

Published on Feb 26, 2014

By Melissa Tan


MCL Land topped the bids for two adjacent executive condominium (EC) plots at Choa Chu Kang by a slender margin yesterday.

It offered $232.5 million for Choa Chu Kang Grove Parcel A and $210.1 million for Parcel B, which sits between Parcel A and public housing blocks.

Consultants said yesterday that the top bids were within expectations, noting that demand for ECs has slowed recently. They added that if MCL were awarded both plots, it could combine them into a single EC development.

Both sites are on 99-year leaseholds and are about 177,120 sq ft each. They can each yield about 575 units.

MCL's bid for the more popular Parcel A works out to around $375 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio (ppr).

It trumped six other offers and narrowly edged past JBE Holdings' $373 psf ppr bid by a mere 0.5 per cent.

As for Parcel B, MCL's top offer of $339 psf ppr pipped a $333 psf ppr offer from a City Developments (CDL) consortium by 1.8 per cent.

CDL had also put in the same bid of $333 psf ppr for Parcel A.

The two other bidders for Parcel B were EL Development and Sim Lian, both of whom also lodged offers for Parcel A.

The top offers for both plots of land were mostly within expectations.

Consultants had predicted a price range of $330 psf ppr to $370 psf ppr and between four and eight bids for both.

They noted yesterday that Parcel A fared better probably because Parcel B was more oddly shaped and faced a petrol kiosk and multi-storey carpark.

Jones Lang LaSalle Singapore research head Ong Teck Hui said that if MCL wins both parcels, "they could be amalgamated as one integrated development enabling Parcel B's disadvantages to be mitigated by design and thus achieving an overall average price that is better off than if the sites were individually developed".

But ERA Realty key executive officer Eugene Lim said MCL could also opt to launch the two sites separately "for more exclusivity". MCL Land is a subsidiary of Hongkong Land.

The two parcels at Choa Chu Kang were the first EC sites offered to developers since new rules on EC loans were imposed in December last year. It was also the second time the Government has batched together tender closing dates for adjacent land parcels.

Mr Lim estimated that the Choa Chu Kang EC plots could be launched at $800 to $850 psf.

[email protected]

[reporter2]

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/archive/wednesday/premium/singapore/mcl-land-tops-bid-2-choa-chua-kang-ec-plots-20140226

Published February 26, 2014

MCL Land tops bid for 2 Choa Chua Kang EC plots

It offers $375.05 psf ppr for one and $338.94 psf ppr for the other

By Mindy Tan [email protected]


MCL Land (Brighton) has swooped in on two adjoining executive condominium (EC) plots in Choa Chu Kang, offering $375.05 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) for one and $338.94 psf ppr for the other.

This works out to a tender price of $232.5 million for Plot A and $210.1 million for Plot B.

This move is reminiscent of Kingsford Development's end-2013 purchase of two adjacent private housing sites in Upper Serangoon View, in which it paid a substantial premium of 16 per cent and 13 per cent over the respective second-highest bids.

In this round however, the premium was less stark. For Parcel A, the premium MCL Land paid over the second-highest bid from JBE Holdings ($373.26 psf ppr) was 0.48 per cent; for Parcel B, the premium over the second-highest bid jointly put up by Verwood Holdings and TID Residential ($333.14 psf ppr) was 1.74 per cent.

Desmond Sim, head of CBRE Research Singapore, commented that it was difficult to assess whether the batched tender moderated the bids because of the price ceiling inherent in the EC market, which limits the pool of buyers.

"At the same time, demand for ECs has slowed down in recent months and URA figures show that there were still unsold EC units as at end January."

Notably, all four developers who put up bids for Parcel B also participated in Parcel A's tender. These were MCL Land (Brighton), the joint bid by Verwood Holdings and TID Residential, EL Development and Sim Lian Land.

Parcel A received seven bids, and Parcel B, four.

Both sites measure 177,120 sq ft each, with maximum gross floor area (GFA) of 619,920 sq ft. They are expected to yield about 575 units each.

The difference in the values of the bids and number of contestants for the two sites can be explained by the greater attractiveness of Parcel A over Parcel B. One side of Parcel B faces a petrol kiosk, and another, a HDB multi-storey car park.

Ong Teck Hui, the national director for research and consultancy at Jones Lang LaSalle, suggested, however, that, because both parcels have been won by the same developer, they could be amalgamated into one integrated development, mitigating Parcel B's disadvantages through design and thus achieving an overall better average price than if the sites were developed individually.

If the sites are not amalgamated, the selling price of units on Parcel B could potentially be lower by $40 to $50 psf, said Mr Ong.

ERA's key executive officer Eugene Lim said that while competition was not as fierce as in the last EC site in Anchorvale, which drew 12 bidders, yesterday's bidding results still point to developers being confident that there is a demand for ECs.

Notably, the two EC sites are the first to be launched since the measures unveiled on Dec 9 to include a cap on the mortgage-servicing ratio at 30 per cent of gross monthly income, and the introduction of a resale levy for second-timer applicants who buy EC units directly from developers.