Big boost in land supply not a given for H2

SINGAPORE developers are in a bind when it comes to restocking local residential landbank.

If they run out of land, that vital raw material for their business, they cannot continue their local residential development business. But to clinch sites, they have to bid aggressively to stave off competition from foreign players as well, including newcomers that have been placing bold bids at state land tenders. Paying too high a price for land will squeeze profit margins.

At a state tender last month, a tie-up between Hong Kong-listed Logan Property Holdings - a newbie to the Singapore property scene hailing from China's Guangdong province - and Chinese conglomerate Nanshan Group clinched a big 99-year leasehold private housing site in Stirling Road in the Queenstown area.