UOL, CapitaLand aim high with S$1.4 billion or S$1,537 psf ppr bid for New Upper Changi site
Their joint venture’s offer marks a new high for pure residential plots in the Outside Central Region
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[SINGAPORE] A state land site for a massive 1,010-unit project in the Bedok area fetched a bullish top bid from UOL Group and CapitaLand Development (CLD), which topped four offers at S$1.4 billion or S$1,537 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).
UOL, Singapore Land and CLD’s joint venture bid was 13.8 per cent higher than the next-highest bid from City Developments Ltd (CDL) and Hong Realty.
It was also 15.6 per cent over the S$1,330 psf ppr price that Allgreen Properties paid for a nearby Bedok Rise site tendered in November 2025.
The top bid for the New Upper Changi plot marks a benchmark price for a pure residential parcel in the suburbs, noted Huttons Asia CEO Mark Yip.
The last pure residential government land sales (GLS) site to fetch more than S$1 billion was a Dunearn Road plot sold in June 2022, where the 1,008-unit Grand Dunearn now stands.
The second-highest bid from CDL and Hong Realty was followed by GuocoLand, Hong Leong Holdings and Mitsui Fudosan at S$1.24 billion or S$1,340 psf ppr.
Coming fourth was Sim Lian with a S$1.22 billion offer or S$1,310 psf ppr.
Bids came in at the higher end of estimates by analysts polled by The Business Times earlier this week; they saw top offers coming in between S$1,250 and S$1,400 psf ppr.
In a joint statement issued after the tender outcome was released, UOL and CLD said: “The site has exceptional locational attributes within a mature residential neighbourhood with excellent access to amenities. It is opposite Bedok Town Centre, less than five-minute walk of Bedok MRT station and Bedok Mall, as well as close to reputable schools and East Coast Park. Residential developments in the East are highly sought after and this project will appeal to a broad base of buyers, including HDB upgraders and residents from the surrounding landed housing estates.”
The developers added that the project would comprise two to four-bedroom formats, “keeping total price quantum realistic”.
UOL and CLD have collaborated on several projects previously. Most recently, they bagged a Hougang site for S$1.5 billion or S$1,179 psf ppr in December 2025, after acquiring Thomson View Condo for S$810 million at a collective sale. The developers also made waves with their launch of Parktown Residence, a Tampines mega project that sold almost 90 per cent of its 1,193 units during a February 2025 launch.
Their latest tie-up “represents a timely replenishment of the consortium’s residential pipeline, ahead of the launch of the 1,268-unit Thomson Reserve in mid-October, which we are seeing strong interests”, they said.
The 30,769 square metre (sq m) New Upper Changi parcel is bounded by New Upper Changi Road and Bedok South Road, and sits on a plot that includes the former Temasek Primary School and Temasek Secondary School.
Nearly 2,300 Housing & Development Board flats in the area reached their minimum occupation period from 2022 to 2026.
With the median resale price of five-room and four-room HDB flats under 15 years old in 2025 standing at S$1.03 million and S$860,000, respectively, ERA CEO Marcus Chu previously said this could create a pool of public housing upgraders with substantial capital in Bedok.
In 2026 thus far, there were also more HDB resale flats sold for at least S$1 million in Bedok, with 52 units compared with 39 in the whole of 2025.
Last week, a 1,215 square foot five-room flat at Bedok South Horizon was sold for a record S$1.45 million, surpassing a previous high set just three months earlier in the same development.
On the other hand, market watchers noted that three other GLS sites have been sold in the Bedok planning area since 2025. These include a Bayshore Road site – now housing the 515-unit Vela Bay – that closed with eight bids in March 2025, and a top offer of S$1,388 psf ppr from SingHaiyi.
More recently, in July, a Bayshore Drive mixed-use site was sold to a Frasers Property joint venture at S$1,323 psf ppr, while Kuok Group’s Allgreen Properties bagged the Bedok Rise site at S$1,330 psf ppr in November 2025.
Altogether, these four sites will inject 3,185 new private homes between 2025 and 2028, which analysts said may take some time for the market to absorb.
At S$1.4 billion for the land, the New Upper Changi Road project will require significant financial outlay.
The parcel has a maximum gross floor area of 86,154 sq m and is one of the largest residential GLS sites launched in the suburbs in recent years.
The successful bidder will also have to bear the cost of demolishing existing buildings on the site, and engaging an asbestos surveyor to conduct checks and sampling.
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