SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) – The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has announced that two land parcels under the 2H2022 Government Land Sales (GLS) programme have been launched for sale today, December 23.

The first site is a mixed-use, commercial and residential plot at Tampines Avenue 11, while the other site is an Executive Condo (EC) site at Plantation Close in Bukit Batok. In total, both sites could yield about 1,685 new residential units.

The development site at Tampines Ave 11 is 545,314 sq ft. The land use zoning for the future mixed-use development comprises a commercial and residential development integrated with a bus interchange, a community club, and a hawker centre. The residential component could yield about 1,190 units.

The new development will “inject much-needed new supply of private mass market homes that will go some way to satiate the pent-up housing demand in the Outside Central Region,” says Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content, PropNex Realty.

“Additionally, the plot offers developers potential suburban retail exposure in a neighbourhood that perhaps could use with more retail offerings, in view of the growing residential population in Tampines,” she says.

She adds that this future integrated development will likely appeal to home buyers, including HDB upgraders currently living in the East.

“There are at least seven uncompleted BTO projects and 1 EC project in the Tampines North area,” says Lee Sze Teck, senior director, research, at Huttons Asia. “The top bid (for this site) may cross $1,000 psf (per plot ratio). However, the huge site and quantum of more than $1 billion will likely attract consortiums to share the risks”.

Wong also agrees that it is more likely that developers will team up to win this bid. “The site could potentially attract 2 to 3 bids, with the top bid projected at about $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion, which translates to a land rate of $850 to $950 psf ppr,” she says.

Meanwhile, the 176,907 sq ft EC site at Plantation Close is expected to yield about 495 units. This is the second EC site that has so far been released in the future Tengah town. The first site was Copen Grand which was launched in October this year and fully sold by Nov 26.

“Following the success of Copen Grand, developers may be keen to look at EC sites in Tengah to shore up their landbank. This site could draw up to eight developers and a top bid between $630 – $680 psf ppr,” says Lee.

Likewise, Wong says that the site’s location in an exciting new housing precinct, and the low supply of new EC units on the market will boost its attractiveness among developers. “We expect the plot to attract five to six bids, with the top bid estimated at around $297 million to $322 million, reflecting a land rate of about $600 to $650 psf ppr”.

HDB says that a modified concept and price revenue tender system will be piloted for the EC site at Plantation Close. This is to ‘encourage the adoption of innovative construction technologies and productive construction methods’ the statutory board says.

Under this pilot, developers must submit an alternative bid on top of a base Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC) bid. This alternative may utilise a non-PPVC technology or a hybrid of construction technologies that results in a specified productivity improvement.

No detailed concept design proposal will be required at the tender submission of this project. A committee chaired by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) will assess the alternative bid to see if it ‘can reasonably fulfil the productivity improvement requirements and deliver advantages comparable to that of PPVC technology’ says HDB.

The tender for both GLS plots will close on June 27, 2023. The closing will also be batched together with the recently unveiled mixed-use site at Marina Gardens Lane, which was launched by URA on December 5.

Source: EdgeProp Singapore, 23 December 2022.