Plum Newton site garners 8 bids, topped by HH Investment at S$566.29 million or S$1,820 psf ppr
The top bid is higher than the S$1,300 to S$1,600 psf ppr predicted by analysts polled by The Business Times
[SINGAPORE] A combination of a palatable-sized prime condominium site next to the Newton MRT interchange station and strong developers’ sales in Singapore’s prime areas this year led to a strong turnout with eight bids and a much-higher-than-expected top bid at a state tender on Tuesday (Nov 11).
HH Investment, a Singapore-incorporated company owned by members of the Liao family behind Huang Hsiang Construction Corp of Taiwan, placed the highest bid of S$566.29 million – or nearly S$1,820 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) – for the 99-year leasehold private-housing site, which can yield about 340 homes.
The bid from HH Investment – which developed Balmoral Place, a freehold project with 28 apartments – was significantly higher than the S$1,300 to S$1,600 psf ppr that analysts had forecast for the top bid earlier this week in a poll conducted by The Business Times.
The eight bids received was at the higher end of the three to 10 bids that the analysts had predicted.
Mogul.sg chief research officer Nicholas Mak said: “Singapore’s high-end residential property market is currently in the midst of a bull run. Based on the aggressive bids submitted for the government land sale (GLS) tender in Newton, property developers do not expect the music to stop anytime soon.”
The S$1,820 psf ppr fetched for the Newton site is the second-highest GLS bid for a residential-only site, after the S$2,377 psf ppr for a Cuscaden Road site awarded in May 2018, noted ERA Singapore chief executive officer Marcus Chu.
HH Investment’s bid was 12.3 per cent higher than the second-highest bid of S$1,621 psf ppr from a tie-up between Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments.
Also bidding was a Wing Tai unit with S$1,555.47 psf ppr. A tie-up between CapitaLand Development and Mitsubishi Estate Co offered S$1,555.38 psf ppr for the site.
The lowest bid, from Japura Development – linked to CK Asset, founded by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing – was S$1,311.26 psf ppr.
A vibrant, new neighbourhood
The site, in Bukit Timah Road, is the first land parcel that the government put up for sale under plans for a new residential precinct in the Newton area. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has envisioned the new neighbourhood as a “vibrant, mixed-use urban village” under the Draft Master Plan 2025 unveiled in June.
URA has plans for about 5,000 new private homes to be introduced progressively in three clusters in the Newton neighbourhood; they are in Newton Circus, Scotts Road and Monk’s Hill.
The latest site that was up for tender is in the Newton Circus cluster, which will include a new amenity node with high-density, mixed-used developments anchored by a central public space envisaged as a “village square”.
Tricia Song, CBRE’s head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia, said that the site will “kick-start the transformation of Newton area from its current business-oriented nature to a more balanced residential and lifestyle hub, with white sites or mixed-use developments planned around the Newton MRT (station)”.
Justin Quek, deputy group CEO of Realion (OrangeTee & ETC) Group, commented that with the strong performance of recent launches in the city-fringe locations and prime areas such as Skye at Holland, Penrith, Zyon Grand, River Green and Promenade Peak, developers may have been confident of the current market in maintaining the momentum of new home sales.
He pointed to the pent-up demand for new private homes in the Newton MRT locale. “There have not been any major new project launches in the vicinity since Kopar at Newton and Klimt Cairnhill,” he said.
At URA’s latest tender closing, analysts detailed the many attractions of the site that were on offer.
The Newton MRT interchange offers proximity to the Orchard Road shopping belt via the North-South Line, and to the Central Business District via the Downtown Line.
The site is near a string of popular schools, including Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) and St Joseph’s Institution Junior.
In addition, the world-famous Newton Food Centre is a stone’s throw away.
“Healthy interest from developers”
PropNex head of research and content Wong Siew Ying noted that the latest land tender joins a “growing list of GLS tenders this year that have attracted healthy interest from developers, underscoring the brighter buyer sentiment and optimism in the market”.
Of the 17 tenders for GLS sites, excluding executive condo (EC) plots, that have closed so far this year, 10 have garnered five or more bids each.
In 2024, there was only one such tender outcome – for the commercial and residential site in Tampines Street 94 – out of the tenders that closed for the 16 non-EC GLS plots, added Wong.
Among the other bidders for the Bukit Timah Road site was a unit of China Overseas Land & Investment, which offered about S$1,481 psf ppr for the site.
Garden Estates partnered Intrepid Investments for a S$1,480 psf ppr bid.
Allgreen Properties’ Aster Residential was the second-lowest bidder, at nearly S$1,449 psf ppr.
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