Woodsville condo site draws 8 bids; top offer at $50.7m

Woodsville condo site draws 8 bids; top offer at $50.7m

Grace Ng
Wed, Jul 18, 2007
The Straits Times



GOOD news for home buyers: More suburban condo units should be coming on stream in Woodsville Close, now that a residential site up for tender there has attracted eight bids.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday announced that it had closed the public tender for the 3,870.5 sq m site near Potong Pasir MRT station.

If sold, Woodsville Close, which has a 99-year lease and a maximum permissible gross floor area of 116,648 sq ft, will be the first suburban residential site sold by the URA this year.


The URA launched the tender for Woodsville on June 19, following the Government's move to release more office and residential sites in order to give developers more options and ease a tightening supply situation.

The eight bids from developers for the site ranged from $32.6 million to the top offer of $50.68 million submitted by developer Frasers Centrepoint.

Frasers' bid, at $434 per sq foot (psf) per plot ratio, is about 69 per cent above the reserve price of $30 million, which works out to $257 psf per plot ratio.

'This price will translate into a break-even price of about $750 psf to $800 psf for the future apartment project to be built on this site,' said Mr Leonard Tay, director of CBRE Research.

The second highest bid of $46.8 million was submitted by Eastpoint Development. Other developers that put in bids include EL Development and Meadows Property.

Property consultants pointed to the Woodsville site's convenient location near Potong Pasir MRT station, expressways and schools such as St Andrew's Junior College as a draw for developers looking to target the suburban market.

Knight Frank director of research Nicholas Mak estimated that about 90 three-bedroom units may be built on the Woodsville site. He expects the units to be 'sought after by HDB upgraders' from areas such as Sengkang, Upper Serangoon, Potong Pasir and Bishan.

Mr Tay noted that recent HDB data showing the average cash over-valuation for resale flats in central areas such as Bishan and Toa Payoh range among the highest islandwide, from $13,900 to $33,600 for the various flat types.

'This would provide greater incentive for HDB households in these nearby estates to make the transition to private property,' he said.

URA said in a statement that it will announce the award of the tender 'at a later date'.