URA Launches Pair of Western Singapore GLS Sites to Supply 1,065 Homes

Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday released two residential sites for sale in the city-state’s western region as officials aim to ramp up housing supply under the Government Land Sales Programme.

The plots at Clementi Avenue 1 and Pine Grove Parcel B can yield 500 and 565 residential units respectively, the URA said in a release. The 1,065 potential homes from the two 99-year leasehold sites form part of the 5,160 residential units to be made available via the Confirmed List of the GLS programme in the second half of 2023.

Clementi Avenue 1 sits opposite the Nan Hua High School campus and is wedged between two earlier tendered sites that are now UOL Group condo projects — Clavon and The Clement Canopy — both of which are fully sold, said Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at PropNex Realty.

“We think the healthy take-up at the two earlier projects and a dearth of upcoming new launches in the Clementi area will encourage more developers to bid for this plot,” Wong said.

Upgrader Appeal

The 13,451 square metre Clementi Avenue 1 site can yield a maximum gross floor area of 47,079 square metres (506,754 square feet) with a maximum building height of 140 metres (459 feet).

The last GLS site in the vicinity to be tendered was the Clavon plot, which was awarded for S$491.3 million (now $362 million), or S$788 per square foot of built area, in July 2019. PropNex describes Clementi as a mature town with appeal to prospective homebuyers, including upgraders from Housing Development Board units.

“We project that the tender for the Clementi site could attract four to five bids, with a top bid price coming in at around S$557 million to S$608 million (or a land rate of S$1,100 to S$1,200 per square foot),” Wong said.

Pine Grove Parcel B, meanwhile, sits roughly 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) north of Clementi Avenue 1 and adjacent to Parcel A, which was awarded to UOL in June of last year for S$671.5 million, or S$1,318 per square foot of built area.

Parcel A was launched in July as the 520-unit Pinetree Hill, which has sold 150 units at a median price of S$2,360 per square foot, said Tricia Song, head of research for Southeast Asia at CBRE.

“We expect Parcel B may not receive the same interest as Parcel A as part of it may be out of 1-kilometre radius from Henry Park Primary School,” Song said, adding that CBRE expects two to four bids with a top bid of S$1,100 to S$1,200 per square foot of built area.

Surging Sales

The URA said Tuesday that sales of new private homes in Singapore jumped 408 percent to 1,412 units in July from just 278 condos sold in June after developers launched 2,500 new homes during the month.

The latest figure, which excludes subsidised housing and executive condominiums, marked the highest monthly tally in nearly two years or since 1,547 units were sold in November 2021, according to PropNex.

The majority of July’s sales were recorded in the city-fringe Rest of Central Region, where buyers picked up 836 units, an increase of 469 percent from the 147 condos sold there in June. The month’s biggest seller was SingHaiyi’s 1,008-unit project on Katong’s Dunman Road, which achieved a median price of S$2,519 ($1,856) per square foot.