http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/arch...close-20130626
Published June 26, 2013
2 pairs of GLS sites to have same tender close
Property consultants highlight sites in new offering that should appeal to developers
By Kalpana Rashiwala
[SINGAPORE] Tenders for a pair of adjacent private housing sites in Upper Serangoon View on the confirmed list will close at the same time in September. Likewise in December, tenders for a pair of side-by-side executive condominium (EC) housing sites in Choa Chu Kang Grove will close at the same time.
The Ministry of National Development (MND), which revealed this in its second-half Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme, said that this would "encourage more prudent bidding by developers".
"Sites in each pair are adjacent to each other, and of a similar size and unit yield," it added.
One of the Choa Chu Kang Grove EC sites can generate about 575 units and the neighbouring plot, 580 units. ECs are a public-private housing hybrid.
As for the Upper Serangoon View pair, one site, beside the existing Rio Vista condo, is estimated to yield 510 private homes. The next-door plot can produce some 410 units.
While the Upper Serangoon View pair of sites are not near an MRT station, Savills Singapore research head Alan Cheong suggests that they could be hotly contested by developers.
This is due to the sites' long frontage along Sungei Serangoon. He predicts that the top bid for each site could be around $800 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) if they were put on the market today.
Generally, analysts say that the prime quotient among new private housing sites in the second half 2013 GLS slate is lower compared with the current first-half slate. Nonetheless, property consultants highlighted some relatively choice sites in the latest offering that should appeal to developers.
One is on Upper Paya Lebar Road (near Bartley MRT Station) and another is along Sims Drive near Aljunied MRT Station. Both are on the confirmed list, where sites are released according to a fixed schedule.
The site near Bartley MRT Station, which can generate about 670 homes, will be launched in November. The plot is just across the road from the Jalan Bunga Rampai site currently on the H1 reserve list and which will roll over to the H2 reserve list. The Jalan Bunga Rampai plot can yield about 115 units.
Colliers International director of research and advisory Chia Siew Chuin notes that the location is near the established Maris Stella Primary and Secondary schools.
Assuming the latest Bartley site on the confirmed list were to be put on the market today, SLP International executive director Nicholas Mak predicts that it could fetch a top bid in the $580-$640 psf ppr range.
Savills' Mr Cheong forecasts a higher price of around $900 psf ppr for the 2.15-hectare site. He predicts the same price for the Sims Drive site, which is expected to yield about 900 homes, while Mr Mak forecasts the top bid to be in the $560-$630 psf ppr range.
Property consultants also highlighted two new sites that have been added to the reserve list that could appeal to developers: in Lorong Lew Lian near Serangoon MRT Station and nex, and along Sturdee Road in the vicinity of Farrer Park MRT Station.
Reserve list sites are launched for tender only upon successful application by a developer, accompanied by an undertaking to bid at a minimum price that is acceptable to the state.
Mr Mak estimates the land price for the Lorong Lew Lian site at $570-$630 psf ppr. MND estimates the 1.48-ha site can potentially yield 495 private homes.
Colliers' Ms Chia reckons that a new project on this site would draw buyers made up of private housing and HDB residents in Hougang, Serangoon and Ang Mo Kio.
The 0.61-ha plot in Sturdee Road, estimated to generate 265 homes, could fetch a top bid in the $620-$660 psf ppr range, Mr Mak reckons.
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