Wee Hur tops 5 bids with S$613.9 million or S$1,062 psf ppr offer for Upper Thomson condo site
Interest in the tender follows strong take-up at Springleaf Residence being built next door
[SINGAPORE] The Wee Hur group’s property arm and its controlling shareholder GSC Holdings outbid four others with a S$613.9 million offer for a suburban residential site in Upper Thomson, with developers spurred by strong sales for a neighbouring project launched in August.
Wee Hur’s bid works out to a land price of S$1,061.56 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), slightly above analysts’ forecasts of S$900 to S$1,050 psf ppr in a poll by The Business Times earlier this week.
With a land rate of S$1,062 psf ppr, analysts expect the average selling price of the upcoming development to be around S$2,300 psf or more, with a potential launch date in 2027.
The site was offered two years ago for a new serviced apartment project, in a tender that closed in December 2023 with no takers for the untested category. The plot was subsequently released in a fresh tender for a 595-unit condominium project.
Wee Hur’s bid pipped the second-highest bid from Frasers Property, Soilbuild Group and CYZ Land by a mere 2 per cent. The Frasers joint venture had made an offer of S$601.5 million or S$1,040.06 psf ppr.
GuocoLand, Hong Leong Holdings and two Hong Leong Group entities – Intrepid Investments and TID Residential – came in third with S$546.5 million or S$944.98 psf ppr. The same consortium had acquired the adjacent site in April last year for S$780 million or S$905 psf ppr, as the only bidder for that plot.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Tuesday, 12 pm
Property Insights
Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.
In fourth place by a marginal difference was Kingsford Group, with an offer of S$543.7 million or S$940.03 psf ppr. Sim Lian Group came in last, with a bid of S$540 million or S$933.72 psf ppr.
Consultants had anticipated four to six bids for the latest tender, coming after the robust take-up at the August launch of GuocoLand’s Springleaf Residence next door. The 99-year leasehold condo sold 870 units, or 92 per cent of its 941 units, at an average of S$2,175 psf over its launch weekend.
“With most of the units at Springleaf Residence sold at launch, there is also less concern over competing private housing supply in the immediate areas,” said PropNex head of research and content Wong Siew Ying.
Sentiment is also turning optimistic after three new launches in October – Skye at Holland, Penrith in Queenstown, and Faber Residence in Clementi – were met with resounding success.
Justin Quek, deputy group chief executive officer at Realion Group, added that unsold inventory at the nearby Lentor Hills estate, which is just a stone’s throw away from the Upper Thomson Road site, is running low.
This is despite six projects being launched in the area to date, with few “significant additions” to supply, said Quek. Most recently, in April, Kingsford Group bagged a seventh Lentor Gardens plot yielding around 530 units for S$429 million or S$920 psf ppr. The last land parcel that is earmarked for sale will be launched in December.
That could have fuelled participation in the tender for the Upper Thomson Road (Parcel B) site.
The removal of the long-stay serviced apartment component likely led to more involvement as well, said CBRE research head for South-east Asia Tricia Song.
Unlike the initial tender of the parcel in December 2023, which saw no takers, the inclusion of long-stay serviced apartments is not mandatory but can be allowed, subject to authorities’ approval.
Analysts reckoned that developers were deterred back then by risks attached to the site’s requirement for long-stay serviced apartments, a still-untested rental category that entails higher development costs and requires specialised management expertise. It was introduced in November 2023 to address rental demand.
To date, the only government land sales site with long-stay serviced apartments to be awarded is a plot in Zion Road. It closed in April 2024 with a sole bid of S$1.1 billion or S$1,202 psf ppr from a City Developments Ltd-Mitsui Fudosan tie-up.
The project, Zyon Grand, started previews in early October with prices starting from S$2,689 psf, and will book sales this weekend.
Located in the new Springleaf precinct, the Upper Thomson Road (Parcel A) site tendered on Thursday (Oct 23) spans 2.44 hectares with a gross plot ratio of 2.2 and maximum gross floor area (GFA) of 53,729 square metres. This includes a minimum 1,000 sq m GFA for a childcare centre and 1,500 sq m GFA for commercial uses, such as supermarkets, shops and restaurants.
The 99-year leasehold site is zoned residential with commercial use on the first floor, and is expected to yield 595 homes.
Mohan Sandrasegeran, Singapore Realtors’ head of research and data analytics, said Wee Hur’s bid was timely since its last notable condominium launch was Bartley Vue, which launched for sale in September 2021. The property developer outbid eight other groups to acquire the site in January 2020, with a top bid of S$93.4 million (S$885.33 psf ppr).
In an interview with The Business Times published earlier this week, Goh Wee Ping, CEO of Wee Hur’s fund management arm Wee Hur Capital, noted that Singapore property development was the company’s largest revenue contributor in the first half of 2025, but this will taper off.
Said Wee Hur’s executive chairman and managing director, Goh Yeow Lian: “Next year, there is no more revenue pocket to be recognised, so we need to look at a new pipeline.”
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
