by Jared Heng
A residential site at Jervois Road in Singapore attracted strong demand, with a total of 17 bids received at the close of its tender on Thursday.
Launched for public tender on December 22 last year, the 8,958-square metre site has a 99-year lease term.
It has a maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of 12,542 square metres.
S.L. Development submitted the highest bid of S$118.9 million, which translates to about S$9,480 per square metre of GFA.
This was followed by Eastwood Park at S$110 million, or approximately S$8,771 per square metre of GFA.
Elitist Development submitted the third-highest bid of S$103 million, or about S$8,212 per square metre of GFA.
JVS Capital came in with the lowest bid of approximately S$71.8 million, or about S$5,725 per square metre of GFA.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said it would announce the winning bidder at a later date after the bids have been evaluated.
Li Hiaw Ho, Executive Director of CBRE Research, noted that the site attracted good response because of its “strong location attributes”.
“The subject site at Jervois Road is located within the prime residential district 10, near the Chatsworth Park Good Class Bungalow Area,” he said. “The future development will be a low-rise development of five storeys, comprising 150 to 200 apartments.”
“The top bid of S$118.9 million or S$881 per square foot (psf) per plot ratio will translate to a breakeven cost of S$1,400 psf to S$1,450 psf. URA sales data for October-December 2011 showed that a small-format unit in Nathan Residences was sold at S$1,655 psf, while units in One Jervois and Sheares Ville were sold between S$1,450 psf and S$1,560 psf. These three projects have a freehold tenure. We expect that units on the new 99-year leasehold site should be able to command a premium because of its rarity, and therefore, may be able to fetch S$1,600 psf to S$1,800 psf when launched,” Li added.
