Developers give Tampines mixed-use site vote of confidence, snub Media Circle serviced apartment plot

Hoi Hup Realty, Sunway Developments outbid five other parties with S$668.3 million or S$1,004 psf ppr bid for Tampines plot; Frasers puts in sole bid for one-north SA2 site at S$461 psf ppr

Developers on Thursday (Sep 19) gave a clear sign that amid today’s depressed sentiment and sales slump, they would rather stick to the tried and tested and steer clear of risk.

A mixed-used site in the well-established regional centre of Tampines drew six bids on Thursday, in the strongest turnout a state land tender has seen in a year.

A Hoi Hup Realty-Sunway Developments joint venture outbid five other parties with its offer of S$668.3 million or S$1,004 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) for the Tampines Street 94 site, which can yield 585 new homes and about 10,500 square metres (sq m) of commercial space.

The top bid, coming in 1.9 per cent over the second-highest offer from Sing Holdings Residential, was slightly above expectations. It was also 13.4 per cent higher than the S$885 psf ppr price that a much bigger mixed-use site nearby was sold for to UOL, Singapore Land and CapitaLand Development, in July 2023.

In contrast, an experimental site designated for 520 serviced apartments near the one-north office hub saw just one offer from a Frasers Property-led group. The consortium put in a S$120 million bid translating to S$461 psf ppr, far below what analysts had earlier estimated the plot could fetch, and raising doubts that the tender would be awarded.

The Media Circle plot comes under a new rental category of long-term serviced apartments labelled SA2, that was introduced last year to help meet market demand. While it is the third SA2-type site to be put up for sale, it is the first “pure” serviced apartment project to be tendered, and comes with a shorter 60-year lease compared with the standard 99-year lease for state land parcels.

Earlier sites combining residential housing for sale with the SA2 component had also got the cold shoulder from industry players.

The first plot tendered at Zion Road was awarded to a City Developments Ltd-Mitsui Fudosan tie-up which placed the sole bid of S$1.1 billion, or S$1,202 psf ppr, in April. The large site can house up to 1,170 residential units, including 435 serviced apartments, on the edge of the prime River Valley neighbourhood.

The second SA2-type site at Upper Thomson saw no interest at all, with the tender closing with no bids in June.