Zion Road residential site triggered for sale at a minimum bid price of $604.57 mil
An undisclosed developer has triggered the release of a residential site, labelled Zion Road (Parcel B), which will be launched for sale via public tender next month, according to an April 22 press release from URA.
The Zion Road (Parcel B) plot is a reserve site on the 1H2024 Government Land Sales (GLS) programme. Sites under the Reserve List are not released for tender immediately but are initially made available for application. It will be put up for tender only when a developer submits an application with an acceptable minimum price.
In this case, the site was triggered when the unnamed developer had submitted a bid not lower than a minimum price of $604.57 million.
The 99-year leasehold site occupies 0.9ha and is expected to yield up to 610 private residential units. With a maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of about 559,744 sq ft, the application price works out to a land rate of about $1,080 psf per plot ratio (ppr) based on GFA. The site is close to Great World and Havelock MRT Stations, Great World City, Zion Riverside Food Centre and River Valley Primary School.
URA’s acceptance of this bid price is unsurprising, says Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at PropNex Realty, given that it is lower than the winning bid for an adjacent Zion Road (Parcel A) site that was awarded earlier this month to a joint venture between Singapore-listed property group City Developments and Japanese real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan. The joint venture submitted a sole bid of $1.107 billion. The 99year leasehold site is the first to pilot long-stay serviced apartments with a minimum stay of three months, and can yield 1,170 residential units, including 435 long-term serviced apartments.
Lee Sze Teck, senior director of data analytics at Huttons Asia, says that the triggering of the site may reflect developers’ confidence in the site and in the property market, particularly for a pure residential site than one that incorporates a long-stay serviced apartment element.
Given that the recent land tender outcomes at Zion Road (Parcel A) and Orchard Boulevard have been “lacklustre” and awarded at “relatively conservative prices”, Wong opines that upcoming land bids could moderate. She expects the Zion Road (Parcel B) site to receive two or three bids, and the top price could come in at around $1,150 to $1,250 psf ppr.