Property Herald: Why Bukit Timah GLS site is attracting strong developer interest

Introduction

The Government Land Sale (GLS) tender for the 99-year leasehold residential site along Bukit Timah Road at Newton closed today. The subject site is located in the Core Central Region (CCR) and has attracted 8 bids from property developers.

This report will detail the strengths and shortcomings of the subject site.

Source: URA

Description of site

The site, spanning 63,498 square feet with a gross plot ratio of 4.9, is zoned for residential use and is expected to yield approximately 340 housing units. It attracted strong interest from developers, drawing 8 bids in total.

1.0) Strengths and weaknesses of the GLS site at Newton

The strong interest from real estate developers is due to its several strengths as listed below:

1.1. Proximity to Newton MRT Station

Firstly, the subject site is 120 metres or a 2-minute walk from Newton MRT Station and bus stops, offering easy access to public transportation. This will appeal to owner-occupiers, investors and tenants.

With the high cost of car ownership in Singapore, many tenants and working adults may forgo owning a car if they are able to acquire a home near an MRT station.

1.2. A rare upmarket CCR GLS site

Secondly, the subject site is among the few CCR residential sites to be launched for sale by the government. It is arguably the most upmarket GLS residential site to be offered for sale in the past five years.

1.3. Close to popular primary schools

Thirdly, the site lies within 2 km of three sought-after primary schools, granting residents priority admission, and within 6 km of six other well-regarded schools, as shown in the table below:

Table 1: Primary schools near Bukit Timah GLS site

Name of School	Street name	Distance from subject site (m)
Anglo-Chinese School (Junior)	16 Winstedt Road	630
Anglo-Chinese School (Primary)	50 Barker Road	650
St. Joseph's Institution Junior	3 Essex Road	1,100
Singapore Chinese Girls' School (Primary)	190 Dunearn Road	1,300
Saint Margaret's Primary School	136 Sophia Road	1,430
Farrer Park Primary School	2 Farrer Park Road	1,500
Nanyang Primary School	52 King's Road	3,400
Raffles Girls' Primary School	21 Hillcrest Road	3,900
Henry Park Primary School	1 Holland Grove Road	5,900

Source: Mogul.sg Research

For families, the site’s closeness to nine primary schools, six of which offer priority admission, makes it an especially desirable location.

1.4. Strong demand for CCR non-landed homes

A fourth attraction would be the likelihood of enthusiastic demand for new CCR non-landed units on the subject site if they are priced attractively.

Excluding W Residences at Marina View, there have been 5 projects launched in the CCR so far this year, introducing a total of 2,027 new units into the market as shown in Table 2.

Table 2: New launches in CCR as of November 2025

Name of Project	Tenure	Total Units in project	Average price at launch ($psf)	Units sold at launch	% of units sold at launch
Aurea	99 yrs	188	$3,005	23	12.2%
The Robertson Opus	999 yrs	348	$3,360	143	41.1%
Upperhouse at Orchard Boulevard	99 yrs	301	$3,350	162	53.8%
River Green	99 yrs	524	$3,130	460	87.8%
Skye at Holland	99 yrs	666	$2,953	658	98.8%
Total of 5 CCR projects (ex-W Resid)	99 yrs	2,027		1,446	71.3%

Source: Mogul.sg Research

These 5 projects sold an average of 71.3% of units on their first week of launch at prices of $2,953 psf to $3,360 psf.

Furthermore, there is also a strong primary market demand for CCR condominiums.

In the first ten months of this year, property developers sold 1,855 non-landed units in the CCR.

Table 3: Number of non-landed primary market units sold in CCR

Time period	No. of units sold
Jan 2024 - Oct 2024	273
Jan 2025 - Oct 2025	1,855

Source: Mogul.sg Research

This is more than six times the number of similar CCR housing units sold in the corresponding period last year. In the January to October period of 2024, developers sold a total of 273 non-landed units in the CCR.

In addition, as the table below shows, Singaporean buyers are increasingly dominating the market for non-landed CCR primary units.

Table 4: Buyer’s resident status of purchasers of non-landed primary market units in CCR

Year	Singaporean	SPR	Foreigner (NPR)	Company	Total
2015	56.3%	18.0%	24.9%	0.9%	100.0%
2025	82.7%	14.4%	2.9%	0.0%	100.0%

Source: Mogul.sg Research

In the last decade, Singaporeans purchasing primary market non-landed units in the CCR have grown from 56.3% in 2015 to 82.7% in 2025. This reflects a broad-based demand for CCR condos by Singaporeans.

1.5. Potential nearby retail and dining hubs

Lastly, the fifth attraction is the presence of four White sites near the subject site in the Draft Master Plan 2025. One or more could eventually house shopping malls, bringing additional retail and dining options to residents in the Newton area.

2.0) Shortcomings of the site

Despite its strengths, the site also contains some shortcomings which are stated below.

2.1. Proximity to busy roads

The subject site is located very near to the busy Bukit Timah Road and Scotts Road. It is situated less than 100 metres from the Newton Flyover and about 150 metres from the Newton Circus. Hence, residents in the future development on this site could be subjected traffic noise and pollution if they keep their windows open.

2.2. Shifting of Anglo-Chinese School (Primary)

A second drawback is the move by Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) to Tengah in 2030. However, this may not be seen as a major setback as there are still a few very popular primary schools located less than 2 km from the subject site. (See Table 1).

2.3. Supply of GLS sites in the area

Based on the Draft Master Plan 2025, the subject site is one of the few non-landed residential sites near Newton MRT Station that could be put up for sale by the government.

There are about three to four other land parcels within a 5-minute walk from the Newton MRT Station that could be slated as future GLS sites.

However, we believe that the government would space out the sale of such limited prime sites. Therefore, the scarcity of prime CCR development sites was another reason for developers, especially those with plans to build an iconic luxury condominium, to participate in this GLS tender.