Fierce bidding for Faber Walk site

A RESIDENTIAL site at Faber Walk received an overwhelming response from 18 bidders at the close of a tender yesterday with a top bid of $156.7 million.

In what some analysts said was the most fiercely contested tender of a residential site under the Government Land Sale (GLS) programme so far this year, developer World Class Land put up the highest bid for the site which translates into $687.42 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The top five bids (see table) for the 99-year leasehold site, which has a five-storey height limit and can yield 210 homes, were 24 per cent to 60 per cent higher than what property analysts had predicted.

After the tender was launched on April 15, property analysts had expected between five and seven bids ranging from $430 psf ppr to $500 psf ppr.

National director of research and consultancy at Jones Lang LaSalle Ong Teck Hui said: "With 18 bidders, this is the most hotly contested GLS residential site since the Jurong Kechil parcel attracted 23 contestants in November last year."

CBRE Research associate director Desmond Sim said: "The race for land continues... The hunger of these developers is illustrated by the narrow margins especially from the top three bids."

The bid from World Class Land - a subsidiary of locally-listed Aspial Corporation - was just $1.67 million more than the next highest bid of $155 million by Keng Hoe Development.

The lowest bid was from Vantage Properties at $110.8 million or $486.10 psf ppr.

The site area is about 162,808 sq ft and can yield a maximum gross floor area of 227,932 sq ft. CBRE's Mr Sim expects a break-even cost of about $1,100 psf to $1,200 psf, which translates into a possible launch price from $1,350 psf onwards, given its proximity to Clementi and the upcoming Jurong Gateway.

Jones Lang LaSalle's Mr Ong said: "The keen participation and bidding for the site is due to its fairly exclusive location, set within a mature landed housing estate with frontage to a park connector and Sungei Ulu Pandan and yet accessible from the Ayer Rajah Expressway."

Executive director of research and consultancy at SLP International Nicholas Mak said the strong demand was expected, given the limited supply of vacant land parcels available for development in the future.

Despite the attraction of the site's location, Mr Mak said one drawback is that it is about 1.5km away from Clementi MRT station.

Aspial said in a statement yesterday that it will make further announcements after the land parcel is officially awarded.

rjscully@sph.com.sg

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