Guocoland places over RM2b bid for Singapore’s Lentor Central MRT site

SINGAPORE (July 26): Guocoland has placed an offer of more than S$784 million (about RM2.4 billion) or S$1,204.47 (RM3,739.84) psf of built area for a plot next to the upcoming Lentor Central MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line here, reported real estate news portal Mingtiandi on July 25.

The developer, which is the property arm of Malaysia's Hong Leong Bank Group, was the highest bidder for the over 650,000 sq ft, 99-year leasehold plot that is designated for a private housing development project, as announced by Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

The transit-oriented development is estimated to yield some 600 housing units and will include a commercial space on the first floor, with a supermarket and childcare facilities.

Units are expected to sell for around S$2,000 (RM6,209) psf, according to Edmund Tie & Co head of research and consulting Lam Chern Woon.

“The high bid price and tight winning margin reflects a recognition of the pent-up demand arising from the lack of launches in this area for over a decade,” Lam said.

On the same day, the Housing Development Board revealed that a consortium of real estate players – Qingjian Realty, Octava Pte Ltd and Santarli Realty had placed a record high bid for an Executive Condominium site in the Tampines area for S$422 million (about RM1.3 billion).

As home prices soar in the city-state, Lam said that the bullish bids are not completely unexpected given the locational attributes of the sites, especially the Lentor Central site.

"In spite of the pandemic, the property market has achieved steady sales with pricing on an uptrend after a brief dip," added Lam.

Meanwhile, the URA’s statistics on Singapore’s property market for April to June showed a fifth straight quarter of rising prices as private home sales jumped 73% over last year’s Covid-19-driven lows.

Private housing prices in 2Q2021 were up 7.1% compared to the same period in 2020.

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