TODAY: Aggressive $258m top bid for Eunos site

Aggressive $258m top bid for Eunos site

Sep 08

SINGAPORE - A week after last Monday's property market curbs were announced, developers have showed a mixed appetite for land, with the five bids received for a Jalan Eunos plot at the close of tender yesterday spanning a wide range of $258 million to $152 million.

The highest bid for the 99-year leasehold site was jointly submitted by Tuas Technology Park, a unit of Glory Realty, and OPH Marymount, a unit of Far East Organization's publicly-listed Orchard Parade Holdings.

The 444,132-square-feet site can be built up to a maximum gross floor area of 621,788 sq ft, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said. Developers can build a 5-storey condominium or 3-storey strata landed housing, with the project expected to yield an estimated 525 units.

The top bid translates to $415 per square foot per plot ratio and this is 26 per cent higher than the second-highest bid of $204 million, submitted by Guocoland's First Capital Development.

Property consultant CB Richard Ellis said the top bid reflected a breakeven cost of around $720 to $760 psf and units in the new project could possibly sell from $850 psf onwards.

Industry experts said the top bid was aggressive, although the other developers seemed to be cautious. Mr Colin Tan, Chesterton Suntec International's research and consultancy director, said: "The latest bidding results showed that there is still liquidity in the market and developers can still absorb the land parcels. The cooling measures appear to have no effect on the supply side although it is set to control the demand."

"One possible explanation is that the site can be used to target two different markets since it can be developed for condominiums or landed housing," he added.

The URA will decide on the winning bidder at a later date. Ephraim Seow