New Reporter
05-04-23, 09:30
GuocoLand-Hong Leong Holdings tie-up is sole bidder for Lentor Gardens site at URA tender
Bid price of nearly S$985 psf ppr is lowest unit land rate fetched among five sites released by URA in the new Lentor Hills Estate, as developers weigh potential glut in area
Apr 04, 2023
https://i.imgur.com/1VCfKR4.jpg
The 99-year leasehold site in Lentor Gardens can yield about 530 private housing units.
ILLUSTRATION: URA
AT THIS year’s maiden state land tender for a 99-year leasehold private housing site, a plot along Lentor Gardens in the Yio Chu Kang area has drawn just one bid.
Mainboard-listed GuocoLand teamed up with Hong Leong Holdings’ Intrepid Investments to place the bid of S$486.8 million, or nearly S$985 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).
Market watchers attribute the muted outcome for the tender, which closed on Tuesday (Apr 4), primarily to a potential oversupply in the area, the new Lentor Hills Estate. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has released a slew of sites in the past couple of years, and with more to come.
The GuocoLand-Intrepid bid was at the lower end of the S$950-to-S$1,150 psf ppr range, which analysts had forecast for the top bid when polled by The Business Times on Monday. They had expected the site to attract two to five bids.
Following the URA’s release of the provisional tender results on Tuesday evening, most property consultants said they expected the site to be awarded to the sole bidder. As property market veteran Nicholas Mak put it: “Despite the low land rate of the sole bid, it is within a reasonable range of the valuation for the site.”
The last time that a Government Land Sales (GLS) site for private housing drew just one bid was in 2018, in Silat Avenue.
The sole bid for the Lentor Gardens tender is the lowest unit land rate fetched among the five sites in Lentor Hills Estate for which state tenders have closed since July 2021. It is about 11 per cent lower than the winning bid of S$1,108 psf ppr for the Lentor Central plot, and nearly 13 per cent below the S$1,130 psf ppr top bid fetched for Lentor Hills Road (Parcel B) at the most recent tender in the area in September 2022.
The number of bids received has fallen steadily from the nine bids that were received for the first site in July 2021.
GuocoLand said: “For the Lentor Gardens site, we are envisioning a high-end residential project with around 533 units, and with 600 square metres (6,458 sq ft) of childcare facilities.”
OrangeTee & Tie chief executive officer Steven Tan said: “The eventual launch price may be around S$1,950 to S$2,050 psf.”
Under URA’s tender conditions for the site, the private housing development on the plot site will be connected to Lentor MRT station by covered linkways.
Established schools such as Presbyterian High School, Anderson Primary School, and CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School are nearby.
Following the URA’s release of this fifth site in Lentor Hills Estate, two more plots are slated for release this month: a reserve-list site also along Lentor Gardens, next to the parcel for which the tender closed on Tuesday; and a confirmed-list plot along Lentor Central.
(Under the GLS programme, sites on the confirmed list are launched for sale according to schedule, regardless of demand. Sites on the reserve list are launched only upon successful application by a developer, or when there is sufficient market interest.)
In all, the seven sites could potentially generate some 3,500 new private homes, translating to almost 11,000 new residents, given that the average Singaporean household size is 3.09, said Knight Frank Singapore’s head of research, Leonard Tay.
At the Lentor Modern project coming up on the first site awarded in 2021 to GuocoLand, 87.3 per cent or 528 out of the 605 units have been sold since sales began in September 2022. The median price as at Mar 19 was S$2,107 psf, said PropNex, citing URA Realis data.
Lentor Hills Residences, to be developed on the second site that was sold, will have 598 units. The site, Lentor Hills Road Parcel A, was clinched by a partnership between GuocoLand and two entities of Hong Leong Group Singapore (Intrepid Investments and TID Residential) at a state tender that closed in January 2022. The project is expected to be launched this quarter.
TID Residential also bagged Lentor Hills Road Parcel B in September 2022. Edmund Tie’s head of research and consulting Lam Chern Woon said that some smaller developers may have shied away from Tuesday’s tender, “given the stronghold of established players like GuocoLand and Hong Leong, which have individually or jointly been awarded three of the four sites launched earlier”.
Lam added: “The modest bid price by GuocoLand and Hong Leong in the latest tender reflects a cautious approach to maintain their market presence, while ensuring that they can price the eventual units in an affordable, yet profitable manner.”
Besides the plentiful housing supply in the area, other factors that might have tempered interest in the site include a change in the definition of floor area, which could eat into developers’ saleable area, and the 2-percentage point hike in the buyer’s stamp duty, he added.
PropNex head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said some developers may have their attention on other upcoming GLS sites in areas with less new private residential supply – such as Champions Way in Woodlands and Media Circle in Mediapolis – or the Tampines Street 62 (Parcel B) executive condo site now open for tender.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/property/guocoland-hong-leong-holdings-tie-sole-bidder-lentor-gardens-site-ura-tender
Bid price of nearly S$985 psf ppr is lowest unit land rate fetched among five sites released by URA in the new Lentor Hills Estate, as developers weigh potential glut in area
Apr 04, 2023
https://i.imgur.com/1VCfKR4.jpg
The 99-year leasehold site in Lentor Gardens can yield about 530 private housing units.
ILLUSTRATION: URA
AT THIS year’s maiden state land tender for a 99-year leasehold private housing site, a plot along Lentor Gardens in the Yio Chu Kang area has drawn just one bid.
Mainboard-listed GuocoLand teamed up with Hong Leong Holdings’ Intrepid Investments to place the bid of S$486.8 million, or nearly S$985 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).
Market watchers attribute the muted outcome for the tender, which closed on Tuesday (Apr 4), primarily to a potential oversupply in the area, the new Lentor Hills Estate. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has released a slew of sites in the past couple of years, and with more to come.
The GuocoLand-Intrepid bid was at the lower end of the S$950-to-S$1,150 psf ppr range, which analysts had forecast for the top bid when polled by The Business Times on Monday. They had expected the site to attract two to five bids.
Following the URA’s release of the provisional tender results on Tuesday evening, most property consultants said they expected the site to be awarded to the sole bidder. As property market veteran Nicholas Mak put it: “Despite the low land rate of the sole bid, it is within a reasonable range of the valuation for the site.”
The last time that a Government Land Sales (GLS) site for private housing drew just one bid was in 2018, in Silat Avenue.
The sole bid for the Lentor Gardens tender is the lowest unit land rate fetched among the five sites in Lentor Hills Estate for which state tenders have closed since July 2021. It is about 11 per cent lower than the winning bid of S$1,108 psf ppr for the Lentor Central plot, and nearly 13 per cent below the S$1,130 psf ppr top bid fetched for Lentor Hills Road (Parcel B) at the most recent tender in the area in September 2022.
The number of bids received has fallen steadily from the nine bids that were received for the first site in July 2021.
GuocoLand said: “For the Lentor Gardens site, we are envisioning a high-end residential project with around 533 units, and with 600 square metres (6,458 sq ft) of childcare facilities.”
OrangeTee & Tie chief executive officer Steven Tan said: “The eventual launch price may be around S$1,950 to S$2,050 psf.”
Under URA’s tender conditions for the site, the private housing development on the plot site will be connected to Lentor MRT station by covered linkways.
Established schools such as Presbyterian High School, Anderson Primary School, and CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School are nearby.
Following the URA’s release of this fifth site in Lentor Hills Estate, two more plots are slated for release this month: a reserve-list site also along Lentor Gardens, next to the parcel for which the tender closed on Tuesday; and a confirmed-list plot along Lentor Central.
(Under the GLS programme, sites on the confirmed list are launched for sale according to schedule, regardless of demand. Sites on the reserve list are launched only upon successful application by a developer, or when there is sufficient market interest.)
In all, the seven sites could potentially generate some 3,500 new private homes, translating to almost 11,000 new residents, given that the average Singaporean household size is 3.09, said Knight Frank Singapore’s head of research, Leonard Tay.
At the Lentor Modern project coming up on the first site awarded in 2021 to GuocoLand, 87.3 per cent or 528 out of the 605 units have been sold since sales began in September 2022. The median price as at Mar 19 was S$2,107 psf, said PropNex, citing URA Realis data.
Lentor Hills Residences, to be developed on the second site that was sold, will have 598 units. The site, Lentor Hills Road Parcel A, was clinched by a partnership between GuocoLand and two entities of Hong Leong Group Singapore (Intrepid Investments and TID Residential) at a state tender that closed in January 2022. The project is expected to be launched this quarter.
TID Residential also bagged Lentor Hills Road Parcel B in September 2022. Edmund Tie’s head of research and consulting Lam Chern Woon said that some smaller developers may have shied away from Tuesday’s tender, “given the stronghold of established players like GuocoLand and Hong Leong, which have individually or jointly been awarded three of the four sites launched earlier”.
Lam added: “The modest bid price by GuocoLand and Hong Leong in the latest tender reflects a cautious approach to maintain their market presence, while ensuring that they can price the eventual units in an affordable, yet profitable manner.”
Besides the plentiful housing supply in the area, other factors that might have tempered interest in the site include a change in the definition of floor area, which could eat into developers’ saleable area, and the 2-percentage point hike in the buyer’s stamp duty, he added.
PropNex head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said some developers may have their attention on other upcoming GLS sites in areas with less new private residential supply – such as Champions Way in Woodlands and Media Circle in Mediapolis – or the Tampines Street 62 (Parcel B) executive condo site now open for tender.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/property/guocoland-hong-leong-holdings-tie-sole-bidder-lentor-gardens-site-ura-tender