Keppel Land makes top bid for eastern Singapore site

SINGAPORE - A Keppel Land unit made the top bid of $434.55 million for a residential site in eastern Singapore, beating 10 other bidders in an auction that shows developers remain confident about the property market.

The other bidders for the the land parcel at New Upper Changi Road include units of Singapore's Far East Group and Malaysia's Kuok Group, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Singapore earlier this month took additional measures to prevent a bubble in its housing market and ensure more prudent lending by banks. The new steps included a maximum tenure of 35 years for residential loans.

Singapore's private home sales in September surged 83.7 per cent over the previous month to the highest level in over three years, official data showed on Monday.

Joseph Tan, executive director for residential at consultancy CBRE, said Keppel Land's breakeven price is likely to be around $1,200 per square foot (psf) and that it may be able to sell the units for over $1,300 psf when launched.

Keppel Land said in a statement it plans to develop about 700 apartment units ranging from 500 to 1,400 square feet.