Choice of attractive sites beckons developers

Most of six residential sites on confirmed list likely to draw good response with their appealing attributes: consultants

KALPANA RASHIWALA

A BEVY of attractive sites on the first half 2018 state land sale slate beckons developers.

Most of the six residential sites, old and new, on the confirmed list are expected to be in good demand with their appealing attributes, say property consultants.

A 0.57-hectare plot along Cuscaden Road in prime district 10 that can yield just about 170 units is expected to be keenly contested due to its plum location and relatively bite-sized lump-sum investment. Property consultants polled by BT predict that assuming the site were to be put on the market now, the top bid could be in the S$1,600-1,900 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) range. The Cuscaden plot is slated for launch in February.

A cap of 1,125 private homes has been set for the Silat Avenue site, which also comes with a commercial component of 450 square metres gross floor area (GFA).

Tricia Song, director and head of research, Singapore, at Colliers International, finds a land parcel that is a stone's throw from Mattar MRT Station on the Downtown Line, interesting, given the "very limited competitive supply in the locality". That said, she notes that this is a relatively untested non-landed private residential location surrounded by largely industrial estates, landed housing and public housing.

These three sites are being rolled over to the H1 2018 confirmed list from the H2 2017 reserve list.

The other three sites on the next half confirmed list are new. They are in Dairy Farm Road, Jalan Jurong Kechil and an executive condo (EC) site in Canberra Link in the Sembawang area. All three are expected to pique developers' interest.

Christine Li, research director at Cushman & Wakefield, describes the location of the Jalan Jurong Kechil plot, which can yield about 280 private homes, as "very attractive" due to the sterling performance of The Hillford project next door.

"On average, the three resale and two subsale transactions since The Hillford was launched netted the original investors a profit of 12.5 per cent over a holding period of 3.1 years - despite the short balance lease tenure of around 56 years."

The selling price of a project on the latest plot may approach S$1,500 psf, which would translate to a land bid in the region of S$1,000 psf ppr, said Ms Li.

The Dairy Farm Road land parcel may be developed into around 500 private housing units and 4,000 sq m of commercial space. "This will be enough for a local shopping facility to complement the residences in the area," noted CBRE Research head of Singapore and South-East Asia Desmond Sim.

Property consultants are expecting the Canberra Link EC plot, which can yield about 450 units, to be hotly contested, as it is near a future MRT station and given the dearth of EC sites. The site will be launched for tender only in June and its developer can be expected to begin marketing the project on the land parcel only 15 months after the site has been awarded, under prevailing rules - which would mean the project's launch is likely to be in late 2019.

ECs are a public-private hybrid housing form.

This sole confirmed list EC site is unlikely to satisfy developers' appetite given the strong demand for ECs and dwindling unsold EC inventory, notes Wong Xian Yang, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie.

As a result, developers are likely to head for the reserve list, where two new EC plots will be on offer - in Tampines Avenue 10 and Anchorvale Crescent.

The Tampines plot is likely to be the more sought-after site because of a lack of new EC launches in the east in the past few years, says Mr Wong.

All eyes are also on a plum reserve list site along Peck Seah Street, next to GuocoLand's Tanjong Pagar Centre. The plot can generate 700 private homes in addition to 4,500 sq m of commercial space. The site will be made available for application in June. Other new sites in the reserve list for H1 2018 include private housing plots in Sims Drive (next to Sims Urban Oasis) and Clementi Avenue 1 (very near The Clement Canopy condo).