China developer tops bids for Hougang site
Fantasia Holding Group's S$75.8m bid 22.2% higher than next highest bid for 99-year leasehold site
June 2, 2017
Judith Tan
THE Hongkong-listed China property developer Fantasia Holding Group has come out on top in a contest for a residential land parcel in Hougang.
Its subsidiary Fantasia Investment (Singapore), together with Sun Renwang and Yang Xinping, beat 10 other bidders with the offer of S$75.80 million for the 1.34-ha land parcel Lorong 1 Realty Park, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said on Thursday.
This translates to S$525.58 per square foot (psf) per plot ratio, based on the maximum gross floor area of the 99-year leasehold site.
Their bid was 22.2 per cent higher than the next highest bid of S$62.02 million, made by Singhaiyi Investments and Haiyi Wealth.
The lowest bid of S$29.88 million came from Lots Property, part of Yuan Ching Development (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tiong Seng Holdings).
The site, which was on the Confirmed List of Government Land Sales programme, had been launched for public tender on April 20.
Head of the Research & Consultancy Department at SLP International Property Consultants Nicholas Mak said the total of 11 bids submitted was an indication of a healthy participation from the developers.
"A significant number of medium-sized developers and contractor-developers who are hungry for suitable development sites have participated in this tender.
"The site's positive attributes, such as its location within a landed enclave and its proximity to the Hougang MRT station, have helped to attract much interest from developers."
He added that the site's small size was also a plus factor in that it made it manageable for many developers; on top of that, the site was also near amenities such as Hougang Mall, Serangoon Junior College, Hougang Stadium, Hougang Sports Hall, Xinmin Primary and Secondary schools and Montfort Secondary and Junior schools.
But JLL national director for research and consultancy Ong Teck Hui felt otherwise.
He said that, for a rare landed property site with a relatively low absolute land price, the showing of tender participation by only 11 bidders was "not particularly keen".
He attributed it to the site location and attributes; one is that it is "along the busy and noisy Hougang Avenue 2".
"This will not be appealing to many buyers, so demand may be hesitant, and this would be reflected in less-optimistic sale prices.
"This would probably account for the moderate bidding of the second highest bidder at $430 psf or less.
"Other than the more robust top bid at $526 psf, the rest of the bids were more moderate or conservative."
He added that top bidder's strong optimism in the tender suggested the likelihood that the units would be priced more optimistically when launched.
Other developers that took part in the tender (in no particular order) included EL Development; Teambuild Properties, a subsidiary of Teambuild Land; Wellprime, a part of the Lian Beng Group; GLG Capital, Peak Opal under Kheng Leong Company; Expandian Capital; and CEL Real Estate Development of CEL Development, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chip Eng Seng Corporation.
First Shine Properties, a subsidiary of Hock Lian Seng Holdings, teamed up with TA Corporation's wholly-owned subsidiary Northwood Investment made a bid for the site as well.