News Extract: 14 Jan 2014

Tender for Upper Paya Lebar site attracts 7 bids

A sales tender for a private residential site at Upper Paya Lebar Road has attracted seven bids, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday.

UOL Overseas Investments submitted the top bid of S$392.3 million for the 99-year leasehold site.

The bid was about 3.7 per cent more than the second highest bid of S$378.3 million from EL Development.

The lowest bid of about S$205.9 million was submitted by Asset Legend.

The land parcel has a site area of nearly 20,080 square metres and could potentially yield 670 residential units.

Analysts said the top bid of S$392.3 million works out to a land price of about S$648 per square foot per plot ratio (psf/ppr), beating previous top bids for nearby sites.

For instance, the land price was S$495 psf/ppr for the Bartley Ridge site sold in January 2012, and S$621 psf/ppr for Bartley Residences tendered in March 2011.

ERA said UOL may look to sell the units at S$1,200 to S$1,300 per square foot, or higher if market conditions turn favourable, while CBRE expects the selling price to range between S$1,300 and S$1,400 psf, pegged to the selling prices of Bartley Residences and Bartley Ridge.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Mak, executive director of SLP International Property Consultants, said: "Going by the healthy interests shown at both Bartley Residences and Bartley Ridge, the subject development is similarly likely to experience healthy home-buying interest.

"We estimate the developer's break-even price to be at S$1,050 to S$1,100 psf while the future project is likely to launch at S$1,240 to S$1,300 psf."

URA said a decision on the award of the tender will be made after the bids have been evaluated. 

Details of site and tender bids received:

- 14 Jan 2014. 
- Sources: 
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/tender-for-upper-paya/954220.html# 
http://www.ura.gov.sg/uol/media-room/news/2014/jan/pr14-02.aspx