Bedok Rise site draws 10 bids, topped by Allgreen Properties’ S$1,330 psf ppr
Top bid is higher than expected, and comes after Bayshore parcel was sold for S$1,388 psf earlier this year
[SINGAPORE] A residential plot along Bedok Rise next to Tanah Merah MRT station drew a crowd of developers in a state tender that closed on Thursday (Nov 27), as competition for fresh land sites and optimism over home sales chased up bids.
The Kuok group’s Allgreen Properties put in the highest bid of S$464.8 million or about S$1,330 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) for the plot, which can accommodate around 380 private condominium units.
Allgreen’s top bid came in above the range expected by market analysts polled by The Business Times earlier this week. They had forecast three to seven bids, with the highest projected to be between S$1,100 psf ppr and S$1,300 psf ppr.
Hoi Hup Realty came second with its bid of S$462.8 million or about S$1,324.16 psf ppr – just a hair below the top bid. A consortium comprising ABR Holdings, LWH Holdings, Macly Capital and Roxy-Pacific Holdings was the third-highest bidder with S$451.3 million or S$1,291.23 psf ppr.
Ten bids were submitted in total, including offers from heavyweight players such as Hong Leong, CapitaLand Development, Frasers Property and Wing Tai, as well as a bid from Tan Koo Chuan’s Yi Kai group. The lowest bid – from a tie-up between UOL, Singapore Land and Kheng Leong – was S$1,121.42 psf ppr.
Alice Tan, Knight Frank Singapore’s head of consultancy, noted that as 2025 draws to a close, the number of interested participants and the premium mark-ups in land rates among the top bidders have been increasing.
“While the government land sales (GLS) tenders earlier in the year were often measured and land rates were within expectations, the last few tenders appear to reflect a greater urgency and a stronger willingness to push land pricing boundaries on the part of developers,” said Tan.
In stark contrast last year, bids for three sites at Marina Gardens Crescent, Jurong Lake District and Media Circle were deemed “too low” and the sites not awarded.
Higher land bids are likely to feed through into launch prices 12 to 15 months later, Tan said. While this could trigger property cooling measures, she noted that the authorities have historically been slower to respond to rising land prices than to increases in private home prices.
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For the keenly contested Bedok Rise site, the sub-20 per cent spread between the top and lowest bids signalled broad agreement on the site’s appeal, said Tricia Song, CBRE head of research Singapore and South-east Asia.
She added that it is likely the last greenfield plot around Tanah Merah MRT station, sitting in near schools, Bedok town centre and amenities.
Estimates of how the project will be priced on average when it is likely launched in 2027 range from about S$2,300 psf to S$2,700 psf. Nearby, the new Sceneca Residences is transacting at a median price of S$2,065 psf; secondary sales in older projects transact at between S$1,481 and S$2,003 psf, said Song.
Observers noted that a recent benchmark was set for land in the eastern region of Singapore, with SingHaiyi’s S$1,388 psf ppr winning bid for a coveted site in Bayshore. The March tender drew eight bidders.
Market sentiment has picked up over the year; robust bidding at state land sales signal an optimistic reading of selling prices. Strong new home sales over the past several quarters are also pushing developers to replenish land banks as projects sell down, and encouraging new players to make a move.
A site in Dorset Road in the Farrer Park area, which garnered nine bids in October, was awarded to the UOL group at S$1,338 psf ppr. A prime Newton area plot along Bukit Timah Road similarly attracted eight bids, topped by a Taiwanese player’s eye-popping S$1,820 psf ppr bid in November. A Dunearn Road parcel in the new Bukit Timah Turf City estate drew nine bids, with a Frasers-led group bagging the site at S$1,410 psf ppr.
Significant declines in borrowing costs have improved the odds for developers, with the three-month Sora falling close to 180 basis points since the start of the year, as CBRE’s Song noted.
Singapore has also posted better-than-expected economic performance. The government upgraded its economic growth forecast again on Nov 21 to around 4 per cent for 2025, from an earlier estimate of 1.5 to 2.5 per cent, she added.
Tight supply in vicinity
Wong Siew Ying, PropNex’s head of research and content, cited the low supply of new private residential units in the Bedok Rise area.
The most recent project launch nearby was the 268-unit Sceneca Residence, which hit the market in January 2023 and was fully sold in November 2025. Before that, the 720-unit Grandeur Park Residences, which was launched in 2017, sold out in 2021, she noted.
Developers may have also been encouraged by new home sales reaching a four-year high by October.
In the first nine months of 2025, new home sales in the Outside Central Region (OCR) nearly doubled to 3,799 units, Mohan Sandrasegeran, head of research and data analytics at Singapore Realtors Inc (SRI) pointed out.
“With suburban projects accounting for almost half of all new private home sales in the first nine months of 2025, developers are clearly recognising the depth of demand in this segment.”
ERA Singapore chief executive Marcus Chu said Singapore’s residential market is entering a “renewed phase of optimism”, buoyed by stellar sales at launches this year.
“We anticipate more developers will actively replenish their land banks, positioning themselves effectively to seize the next wave of buyer demand.”
Knight Frank’s Tan sounded a more cautious note, saying it was hard to predict whether homebuyer demand would remain strong in the year ahead, with continuing global economic uncertainty and multinationals announcing layoffs. “Perhaps the government can look into encouraging a little restraint at GLS tenders (such as concept and price tenders).”
She added: “Perhaps some temperance on the part of developers will not only be good for the overall longer-term sustainable health of the private home market, but also manage the margins and costs, should homebuyer demand turn unexpectedly.”
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