Holland Drive, Upper Bukit Timah reserve list sites put up for offer

TWO residential sites in Holland Drive and Upper Bukit Timah are now available for application, the Urban Redevelopment Authority said on Thursday (Nov 16).

The 99-year leasehold sites can yield more than 1,000 private housing units in total and have been released under the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme’s reserve list for the second half of 2023. 

Under the Reserve List system, a land parcel will only be released for sale if it receives an offer of a minimum price that is acceptable to the government and if there is sufficient market interest. These two sites come on the heels of recently concluded tenders for plots of land at Clementi, Pine Grove and Toa Payoh.

Separate joint ventures involving MCL Land emerged as the highest bidders for the Clementi and Pine Grove sites, which can yield an estimated 501 units and 565 units, respectively. 

The winning bid for the Clementi Avenue 1 plot was nearly S$633.45 million, or S$1,250 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr). For the Pine Grove plot, MCL Land teamed up with Sinar Mas Land to place the top bid of nearly S$692.4 million or S$1,223.30 psf ppr. 

A consortium comprising City Developments Ltd , Frasers Property and Sekisui House clinched the tender for the Toa Payoh Lorong 1 site for S$968 million or S$1,360 psf ppr.

The Toa Payoh site can yield about 775 private housing units.

The tender results for the Clementi, Pine Grove and Toa Payoh sites were broadly in line with the expectations of market watchers who spoke with The Business Times. While there were fewer developers participating, those who did were willing to place bullish bids in order to secure the top position, the analysts said.

An estimated 680 residential units can be built at the Holland Drive site. It measures 12,386.8 square metres (sq m), with a maximum gross floor area (GFA) of 58,218 sq m.

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The site is also near Holland Village MRT station. It includes a low-rise zone, where buildings can only be built up to six storeys and a high-rise zone.

The Upper Bukit Timah site is located at De Souza Avenue, with the potential to build about 355 residential units on the 19,245.2 sq m plot. Buildings should be at most 10 storeys high. The site has a maximum GFA of 30,793 sq m; at least 500 sq m of GFA should be set aside for childcare services. 

Market watchers expect mixed interest for the two GLS sites, with the Holland Drive site seen as more promising than the one in Upper Bukit Timah. 

The Holland Drive site is next to the One Holland Village mixed development, which drew 15 bids when it was put up for sale, noted PropNex Realty head of research and content Wong Siew Ying. 

That site was awarded for about S$1.21 billion to a consortium comprising Far East Organization , Sekisui House and Sino Group. This translates to a land rate of S$1,888 psf ppr. 

As at August this year, all units in One Holland Village Residences have been sold at an average price of S$2,764 psf based on URA caveat data, Wong said. 

However, the large site, with more than 600,000 sq ft GFA, will potentially translate into bids above S$1 billion, said Lee Sze Teck, Huttons’ senior director of data analytics. He added: “This huge quantum may put off bidders unless they are consortiums.”

ERA key executive officer Eugene Lim said that some developers looking to replenish their depleting land banks may still be keen to acquire land. He noted that both sites are in neighbourhoods popular with local buyers. 

While the Upper Bukit Timah site is close to the Bukit Batok Nature Park, Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at property search portal Mogul.sg, said it is not as conveniently located to nearby MRT stations. “Furthermore, there is also a lack of retail amenities near the site as it is surrounded by residential properties,” he added.