A land parcel for executive condominium (EC) development at Choa Chu Kang Drive attracted eight bids at the close of its tender on Thursday (Sep 4).
The Housing and Development Board (HDB) announced that Sim Lian Land Pte Ltd submitted the highest bid of S$207.4 million. This translates to a unit price of about S$361 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).
The second-highest bid was about 2.2 per cent lower at S$202.88 million. This came from a consortium that includes Hoi Hup Realty Pte Ltd, Sunway Developments Pte Ltd and Oriental Worldwide Investments Inc. Meanwhile, the lowest bid came in at S$160.9 million from KBD Ventures Pte Ltd.
Property analysts said the number of bids shows that interest in the EC market remains healthy despite the weak market conditions. CBRE’s research head, Desmond Sim, said “the bid price also reflects the confidence of the developers in the mid to long term for the EC market, bolstered by steady underlying demand”.
However, ERA’s key executive officer Eugene Lim highlighted that “demand for ECs has slowed down in recent months with no new launches and ECs now face Mortgage Service Ratio rules, which limit the loan size, and this would affect units that are highly priced”.
The 99-year lease site was launched for tender on Jun 26. It has an area of 19,058 square metres and about 535 EC units are expected to be developed on the site.
HDB said a decision on the award of the tender will be announced at a later date.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 4 Sep 2014