The land parcel on Dairy Farm Road is expected to fetch as much as S$420 million. Image Credit: Urban Redevelopment Authority
The Singapore government has released three residential sites valued at a total of S$1.36 billion ($1 billion) on the same day, adding an estimated 1,880 homes to the city-state’s housing pipeline.
The three plots, located across the city on Dairy Farm Road, Sims Drive and Tampines Avenue 10, were released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and Housing Board (HDB) under the first half of the 2018 Government Land Sales (GLS) programme, according to an official announcement on Thursday.
“All three land parcels… should find favour with developers given the improved market sentiment and good absorption of new supply,” said Tricia Song, Head of Research for Singapore at property brokerage Colliers International in a statement. “The launches year-to-date have met with good take-up rates and should further bolster developers’ confidence to bid for sites.”
Site Close to Nature Reserve
The Dairy Farm Road plot, which has been launched for tender the URA’s confirmed list of sites, is designated for a building residential development with a first floor commercial space. Colliers expects to see keen interest for the site, which is estimated to fetch S$390-420 million.
Tricia Song, head of research in Singapore in Colliers
The 19,648 square metre (211,489 square foot) land parcel, which is located north of the city’s Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, can yield up to 41,260 square metres of gross floor area. The maximum area for the commercial component of the plot is 4,000 square metres, including a supermarket of no less than 1,000 square metres, and a food court of at least 500 square metres, as well as shops and restaurants covering another 2,500 square metres.
“The site’s most attractive attributes are its proximity to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and partial unblocked views over the landed residential plots,” said Song. The land plot is a 10-minute walk from the Hillview MRT station.
The site, granted a 99-year lease period, is the first GLS parcel to be released for sale in the Dairy Farm area since September 2012. The tender ends on September 4.
Middle-Class Housing Site Poised to Trigger Sale
Singapore’s authorities are also making a pair of residential parcels available for application under the Reserve List, which means a tender will only be triggered if bid commitments indicated by developers are acceptable to the government.
Of the two sites placed on the Reserve List, a 16,225 square metres plot on Sim Drive in the Geylang area is expected to draw offers of as much as S$575 million. The site, which is about 10 minutes walk from the Aljunied MRT station is approved for construction of up to 48,676 square metres of floor area, and is said be appealing for its location on the northeast fringe of Singapore’s urban core.
The remaining plot is a 2.56-hectare Executive Condominium (EC) site at Pulau Ujong’s Tampines Avenue 10 near Changi airport on the upper east coast. The site, which is designated for construction of up to 69,828 square metres of the hybrid public-private home type, is valued at S$360 million.
The EC site is expected to be triggered for sale quickly, due to shrinking unsold EC stock in the market and the growing appeal of the property type to home buyers, according to Colliers. “The demand for ECs – a hybrid between public and private housing – was also driven by their relatively affordable price points for the “sandwiched” class,” Song added, referring to the city’s lower-middle class residents and young people who are struggling to get on the housing ladder.
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