Property Herald: Record high land price for condo site in Bishan area

Introduction

The tender for a 99-year leasehold condominium development site at Lorong Puntong /Sin Ming Avenue in the Bishan area closes today attracting seven bids from developers. The tender is part of the Singapore Government Land Sale (GLS) programme.

With a site area of 4,283.4 sqm and a plot ratio of 2.8 times, this site can yield about 140 dwelling units. It is also the one of the four comparatively smaller residential development sites that the government is putting up for sale this year. Fewer than 200 housing units can be built on each of these four smaller sites.

Top tender bid

A Malaysian developer, Eco World Development submitted the highest bid of $208,099,000, which translate to a land rate of $1,611.89 psf ppr. This is a new record high land rate for a GLS residential site in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) and would contribute to escalating the inflation of housing prices.

Table 1: Lorong Puntong GLS tender bidders and bid prices

S/No.	Name of parent company	Bid price ($)	Land rate ($psf ppr)
1	Eco World Development (S)	$208,099,000	$1,611.89
2	Hong Leong Holdings & Mitsui Fudosan Co.	$187,330,000	$1,451.02
3	Sunway MCL	$185,380,000	$1,435.92
4	EL Development Pte Ltd	$182,100,000	$1,410.51
5	JBE Capital Pte. Ltd.	$173,292,200	$1,342.29
6	Santarli Realty, Soon Li Heng Strategic Holdings, Heeton Holdings, Sunray Woodcraft Construction family and Kay Lim Realty	$168,888,000	$1,308.17
7	Kheng Leong Company	$162,150,000	$1,255.98

Source: Mogul.sg Research, The Business Times

By comparison, the top bid for the Lorong Puntong site is only 0.3% lower than the $1,616.77 psf ppr paid for the GLS residential site at Orchard Boulevard in February 2024. The project “UpperHouse at Orchard Boulevard” was subsequently built on the Orchard Boulevard site. However, the Orchard Boulevard is located in the high-end residential district while the Lorong Puntong is located near the HDB estate of Bishan.

The top bid in this tender shows how the land prices in the city fringes are creeping towards the land prices in the high-end residential areas.

Furthermore, the top bid is a substantial 11.1% higher than the second highest bid of $1,451.02 psf ppr from a consortium of Hong Leong Holdings and TID Residential Pte Ltd. The 11.1% premium that Econ World Development bidding above the second highest bid indicates that it is confident of the development potential of this site and is very eager to acquire it.

The spread between the highest and lowest bid is 28.3%, while the spread between the second highest and lowest bid is a narrower 15.5%. This shows that other than Eco World Development, the other developers in this tender share a consensus that the value of this land parcel is lower than $1,452 psf ppr, which is within the price range of other recently transacted land parcels in the city fringe.

Healthy participation in this tender

The strong selling points for the Lorong Puntong land parcel are the key factor for the robust participation rate among developers. It is only the second GLS tender that attracted more than 6 bids in the past twelve months. The other GLS tender that also drew 7 bids is for the site of 18 conserved houses at Chitty Road and Veerasamy Road.

Estimated future launch price

Although the subject site is located in the mid-tier Rest of Central Region, the land price is close to the prices of CCR sites sold in the past two years.

Based on the land rate of $1,611.89 psf ppr, the residential units to be built on this site could be launched in 2028 at $3,000 to $3,100 psf, which is close to the price range of new high-end private housing units launched this year, such as Dunearn House at $3,140 psf in the CCR.

Table 2: Comparable GLS residential sites

GLS site location	Market segment	Planning area	Tender closing date	Land rate ($psf ppr)	No. of bids	No. of housing units
Holland Plain	CCR	Bukit Timah	7-May-26	$1,490.86	1	280
Berlayar Drive	RCR	Bukit Merah	4-Aug-26	$1,515.01	1	415
New Upper Changi Road	OCR	Bedok	1-Sep-26	$1,537.05	4	1,010
Lorong Puntong /Sin Ming Avenue	RCR	Bishan	15-Sep-26	$1,611.89	7	140

Source: Mogul.sg Research

Key attractions of the Lorong Puntong site

A1) Small residential site that are digestible for small and medium-size developers

The subject site is one of the few smaller residential sites in the GLS programme of 2026 that can yield fewer than 200 units. Residential sites of this size will appeal to small and medium-size developers due to the lower amount of financial resources required.

A2) Near to an operational MRT station that will become a MRT interchange of 2 MRT lines in 2030.

The subject site is 300 metres away from Bright Hill MRT Station, or a 4-minute walk. Upon the opening of the Cross Island Line in 2030, Bright Hill MRT Station is expected to serve as an interchange station, increasing connectivity and accessibility for future residents of the development.

A3) Near to two very popular primary schools

Lorong Puntong GLS site is also within 2 km of three primary schools, including two of the more Ai Tong school and CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls’ School, allowing for priority admission for primary school students.

The latest changes to the Primary 1 registration framework announced on 10 September by the government will not diminish the demand for housing within 2 km of these popular schools.

Table 3: Primary schools within a 2 km radius of Lorong Puntong GLS site

S/N	Name of primary school	Distance from subject site (m)
1	Ai Tong School	200
2	Ang Mo Kio Primary School	1,250
3	CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School	1,280

Source: Mogul.sg Research

A4) Residential project launches in this location are few and far in between

The Upper Thomson area has also had few residential projects launched in the past few years. The next launch in the area would be Thomson Reserve in 4Q 2026, with the prior launch in the area being Thomson Impressions which launched in October 2015, almost 11 years ago. Therefore, the subject land parcel is expected to attract a healthy number of bids.

A5) One MRT station from Thomson Plaza

The nearest retail mall to the subject site is Thomson Plaza, located approximately 1,000 metres away, or a 15-minute walk. Thomson Plaza is also conveniently situated adjacent to Upper Thomson MRT Station, providing future residents of the development with easy access to the mall via public transport.