A closely watched state land sale and Johor in the spotlight

THE government’s first land sale of the year set tongues wagging, after a large site in Marina South drew just one bid that was way below expectations, Kalpana Rashiwala reports. A GuocoLand-Hong Leong group consortium put in the only offer for the downtown plot, at 30 per cent under what Kingsford paid for a neighbouring parcel sold last year. 

Developers are continuing to price risk into their land bids, in a climate where higher ABSD has cut off demand at the top while current home prices still pose a high bar for many buyers.   

Market players are watching closely to see if the government will award the Marina Gardens Crescent site. The GuocoLand-Hong Leong group stands to make a tidy profit from the project if awarded the site at their bid price. Their breakeven cost would be lower than that of the nearby project, while pricing would take the cue from the higher cost development.