http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...84740,00.html?
Published January 13, 2012
Clementi condo site attracts top bid of $408m
By MICHELLE TAN
A 99-YEAR leasehold condominium site along Jalan Lempeng has attracted a top bid of $408 million in an eight-cornered bidding session among developers.
IOI's property unit, Multi Wealth (Singapore) Pte Ltd, was the top bidder for the residential land parcel, offering $554.41 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), 13 per cent higher than the next highest bid of $490.50 psf ppr by joint bidders UOL Venture Investments Pte Ltd, Singapore Land's SL Development Pte Limited, and Kheng Leong unit Russville Pte Ltd.
The lowest bid of $260.1 million was put in by Soilbuild Group Holdings Ltd, translating to $353.44 psf ppr.
Highlighting that the number of bids was within expectations, Lee Sze Teck, senior manager of research and consultancy at DWG, said: 'The level of
interest and price level indicate that developers think that demand in the mass market segment is still robust.'
Mr Lee said the Clementi estate has not had a condominium project launch for many years and the site is likely to benefit from pent-up demand from residents residing in Clementi. He cited the recent DBSS project, Trivelis, as a 'good example'.
Credo Real Estate executive director Ong Teck Hui agreed, saying: 'As expected, the more attractive GLS (government land sales) residential sites will draw more bidders with some being prepared to bid more optimistically than others.
'The subject site is a reasonable distance from Clementi MRT station, the bus interchange, and the amenities in Clementi Town Centre.'
He added that there are relatively fewer GLS residential sites available in the west compared to other locations, especially the north-east and east where most of the tendered sites were located.
Consultants estimate the break-even point for the future development to be between $950 and $1,000 psf and the selling price would likely be around $1,200 to $1,300 psf.
With a total site area of 262,828.6 square feet (sq ft), the plot with a maximum plot ratio of 2.8 times can be built up to 735,920.1 sq ft and yield about 685 apartment units.