Today’s tender was closed for two residential government land sale (GLS) sites in Lentor Central and Lentor Hills (Parcel B) and an executive condominium site at Bukit Batok West Avenue 5.
With just three bids for Lentor Central and two for Lentor Hills (Parcel B), the senior director of research at Huttons Asia Lee Sze Teck noted that both the Lentor Central and Lentor Hills (Parcel B) locations showed “muted participation.” For what? Given an area where the government might have up to 11 development plots, developers may be playing it cautious and apprehensive. The Lentor Central site is now being developed into a new launch condo named Hillock Green.
With just three offers, the Lentor Central site attracted the highest bid—$481.03 million—from a group including China Communications Construction Co., Soilbuild Group Holdings, and United Engineers, a division of Yanlord Land. This yields a land rate of $1,108 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr). Closely on their heels, CapitaLand Development bid second highest, at just 3.7% lower at $1,069 psf ppr.
The top bids for both Lentor Central and Lentor Hills (Parcel B) exceeded the $1,060 psf ppr paid for Lentor Hills Road (Parcel A). ERA’s head of research and consulting, Nicholas Mak, said this shows developers hope condominium prices will keep rising in the near future.
Comprising 144,713 square feet, the 99-year leasehold Lentor Central site can house around 470 residential units. Based on the land rate, Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research & analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, says the future selling price for these apartments could vary between $2,000 and $2,100 psf.
The tender results for the Lentor sites show developers’ cautious but hopeful view. Though there was little participation, the high bids show faith in the area’s capacity for price increase. With Lentor Modern about to open, the Lentor precinct is poised for exciting changes.
