URA Launches Tenders for Western Singapore Sites Yielding Up to 955 Homes

The Urban Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday released two western Singapore residential sites for tender under the Government Land Sales programme with capacity to yield 955 homes.

The site at Dunearn Road in the new Bukit Timah Turf City housing estate can potentially provide 380 homes, the URA said in a release, while the Lakeside Drive plot in Jurong West can support up to 575 homes. The parcels are part of land to accommodate 5,030 homes scheduled for release under the GLS confirmed list during the January-June period.

Local broker PropNex Realty expects developers to be keen on the 145,227 square foot (13,492 square metre) Dunearn Road site, seizing the chance to “plant a flag” and stake out a position as first movers in the neighbourhood near the former Bukit Timah racecourse. The plot is within walking distance of Sixth Avenue MRT station on the Downtown Line and close to popular schools, according to Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at PropNex.

“Meanwhile, the Dunearn Road site is also not far from the future Turf City MRT station on the Cross Island Line which may be ready in 2032 under Phase 2 of the CRL construction,” Wong said.

Fourth Avenue Benchmark

The last GLS site awarded near Dunearn Road was the Fourth Avenue plot that became the ultra-luxury Fourth Avenue Residences. That site drew seven bids and was sold to Robert Kuok’s Allgreen Group in December 2017 for S$552.96 million (now $409.8 million), or S$1,540 per square foot of accommodation. The 476-unit Fourth Avenue Residences was launched in January 2019 and sold out in September 2022.

PropNex anticipates the Dunearn Road site drawing five or six bids, with the top bid in a range of S$1,400 to S$1,500 per square foot of built area for the 99-year leasehold plot, Wong said. The maiden GLS site is part of 15,000-20,000 public and private housing units planned for the Turf City estate, which will be completed in 20 to 30 years.

The 99-year leasehold Lakeside Drive site near Lakeside MRT station on the East-West Line spans 537,065 square feet and is zoned residential with allowances for 10,764 square feet of commercial space.

“We expect this plot to garner healthy interest among developers, owing to the strong connectivity factor, proximity to the Jurong Lake District, and possibly pent-up demand from about nine years without a new project launch in the vicinity,” Wong said.

The last private condo project launched in Jurong West was the 710-unit Lake Grande, which sold out in March 2018. Lake Grande’s site drew nine bids and was awarded in March 2015 for S$630 per square foot of accommodation.

PropNex expects Lakeside Drive to attract three or four bids, with the top bid in a range of S$1,100 to S$1,200 per square foot.

The tenders for Lakeside Drive and Dunearn Road close on 3 June and 26 June, respectively.

Woodlands EC Site Released

Also Tuesday, the Housing and Development Board released the Woodlands Drive 17 site with a potential yield of 420 homes under the hybrid public-private executive condo segment.

The first EC parcel to be made available for sale in Woodlands South since 2013 is within a five-minute walk of Woodlands South MRT station and one train stop away from Woodlands Regional Centre, the mixed-use hub under development on 100 hectares (247 acres) of land.

“There are an estimated 6,500 HDB flats in Woodlands which were completed from 2016 to 2018 and this may form a potential pool of upgrading demand for EC,” said Huttons Asia CEO Mark Yip. “The Woodlands Regional Centre is likely to be the biggest transformation in the north of Singapore.”

Huttons estimates four to six bidders for the site and a top bid between S$700 and S$750 per square foot of accommodation.