Wee Hur outbids five other bidders for the Upper Thomson condo site, offering S$613.9
Wee Hur outbids five other bidders for the Upper Thomson condo site, offering S$613.9 million, or S$1,062 per square foot per plot ratio
Strong uptake at the Springleaf Residence being constructed next door has sparked interest in the tender.
October 23, 2025
CONDOsingapore.com
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With a S$613.9 million offer for a suburban residential site in Upper Thomson, the Wee Hur group's real estate division and its majority shareholder GSC Holdings outbid four other parties. The developers were encouraged by the success of a nearby project that was introduced in August.
Wee Hur's offer translates into a land price of S$1,061.56 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), which is marginally higher than the S$900 to S$1,050 psf ppr predicted by analysts in a poll conducted earlier this week.
With a land rate of S$1,062 per square foot per plot ratio, analysts predict that the upcoming development, which could launch in 2027, will have an average selling price of at least S$2,300 per square foot.
The site was put up for a new serviced apartment project two years prior, in a tender that ended in December 2023 with no bidders for the untested category. Later, the plot was made available in a new tender for a condominium project with 595 units.
Wee Hur's bid was only 2% higher than the second-highest bids from Frasers Property, Soilbuild Group, and CYZ Land. The joint venture between the Frasers had offered S$601.5 million, or S$1,040.06 per square foot per plot ratio.
With S$546.5 million, or S$944.98 per square foot per plot ratio, GuocoLand, Hong Leong Holdings, and two Hong Leong Group companies, Intrepid Investments and TID Residential, came in third. As the sole bidder for that plot, the same consortium had purchased the adjacent site in April of last year for S$780 million, or S$905 per square foot per plot ratio.
Kingsford Group, with an offer of S$543.7 million, or S$940.03 per square foot per plot ratio, came in fourth place by a slim margin. With a bid of S$540 million, or S$933.72 per square foot per plot ratio, the Sim Lian Group placed last.
After GuocoLand's Springleaf Residence next door had a strong take-up at its August launch, consultants had predicted four to six bids for the most recent tender. Over its launch weekend, the 99-year leasehold condo sold 870 units, or 92% of its 941 units, at an average price of S$2,175 per square foot.
"There is also less concern about competing private housing supply in the immediate areas, as the majority of the units at Springleaf Residence were sold at launch," stated Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at PropNex.
After three new launches in October—Skye at Holland, Penrith in Queenstown, and Faber Residence in Clementi—were greeted with overwhelming success, sentiment is also improving.
Unsold inventory at the neighbouring Lentor Hills estate, which is close to the Upper Thomson Road site, is running low, according to Justin Quek, deputy group chief executive officer at Realion Group.
This is true even though there have only been six projects started in the region thus far, according to Quek, with few "significant additions" to supply. The Kingsford Group most recently purchased a seventh Lentor Gardens plot in April, which produced about 530 units, for S$429 million, or S$920 per square foot per plot ratio. In December, the final piece of land designated for sale will go up for sale.
This might have encouraged more people to bid for the Upper Thomson Road (Parcel B) site.
According to Tricia Song, research head for South-east Asia at CBRE, the elimination of the long-stay serviced apartment component probably resulted in increased participation as well.
The inclusion of long-stay serviced apartments is not required but may be permitted with the approval of the relevant authorities, in contrast to the initial tender of the parcel in December 2023, which saw no takers.
According to analysts, the site's requirement for long-stay serviced apartments, an unproven rental category that comes with higher development costs and specialised management skills, put developers off back then. In order to meet the demand for rentals, it was introduced in November 2023.
A plot on Zion Road is currently the only government land sales site with long-term serviced apartments awarded. In April 2024, it closed with a single bid of S$1.1 billion, or S$1,202 per square foot per plot ratio, from a joint venture between City Developments Ltd. and Mitsui Fudosan.
With prices starting at S$2,689 per square foot, the Zyon Grand project began previews in early October and will go on sale this weekend.
The Upper Thomson Road (Parcel A) site, which was tendered on Thursday, October 23, is 2.44 hectares in size, with a gross plot ratio of 2.2 and a maximum gross floor area (GFA) of 53,729 square metres. It is situated in the new Springleaf precinct. This includes a minimum of 1,000 square metres of gross floor area for childcare facilities and 1,500 square metres for commercial spaces like stores, restaurants, and supermarkets.
595 homes are anticipated to be built on the 99-year leasehold site, which is zoned residential with first-floor commercial use.
Singapore Realtors' head of research and data analytics, Mohan Sandrasegeran, stated that Wee Hur's bid was well-timed because Bartley Vue, the company's most recent noteworthy condominium launch, went on sale in September 2021. In January 2020, the property developer made the highest bid of S$93.4 million (S$885.33 per square foot per plot ratio), outbidding eight other groups for the site.
Singapore property development was the company's biggest source of revenue in the first half of 2025, but this will taper off, according to Goh Wee Ping, CEO of Wee Hur Capital, the fund management division of Wee Hur, in an interview that was published earlier this week.
Goh Yeow Lian, executive chairman and managing director of Wee Hur, stated: "We need to look at a new pipeline because there isn't any more revenue pocket to be recognised next year."
