Singapore American School and right in the middle of the heartland, Singapore’s new real estate hot zone.

EIGHT bidders have put in tenders for a residential site near the Singapore American School and right in the middle of the heartland, Singapore’s new real estate hot zone.

Bids for the plot - located between Woodlands Avenue 2 and Rosewood Drive - ranged from $36.4 million to $56 million.

EL Development, a unit of Evan Lim, lodged the top bid.

Frasers Centrepoint came in just behind with $55.5 million, according to a Singapore Land Authority (SLA) statement yesterday.

The narrow gap between the top two bidders reflects the keen interest in the 172,223 sq ft site, which is near the American international school and, thus, in an area popular with expatriate families, said Mr Lui Seng Fatt, regional director and head of investments at Jones Lang LaSalle.

A condominium of up to five storeys with a gross floor area of 241,112 sq ft can be built on the 99-year lease site, which has a gross plot ratio of 1.4, the SLA said. This works out to about $232 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio, which can translate into a break-even price of about $400 psf for the project, said Mr Lui, adding ‘the project may be able to sell for about $500 psf, depending on the circumstances’.

Analysts noted that the competitive bidding for the Woodlands site contrasted sharply with the lacklustre response to recent public tenders for sites at Enggor Street and Marina View, both located in the more central parts of Singapore.

This confirms ‘the trend that the focus has shifted to the outlying areas, now that the prices in the central districts, including districts 9, 10, 11, have risen significantly’, said Mr Lui.

That theory will get a further test in two weeks, when the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) launches a tender for a reserve site at Simei Street 4, which has an area of 3.22ha and is earmarked for residential development with a maximum gross floor area of 74,084 sq m.

The call for bidders was triggered by an application made by a developer who committed to bid at least $187 million for the land parcel.

Also, the URA has awarded the tender for a transitional office site between Tampines Concourse and Tampines Avenue 5 to Glades Properties, the sole bidder with a price of $10 million.

This works out to $868 per sq m for a site with a gross floor area of 11,520 sq m. The land parcel has a 15-year lease.

Source : Straits Times - 21 Nov 2007