The tender for the residential site at Hillview Rise was awarded on May 3 to Intrepid Investments and Garden Estates, which are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Hong Leong Group.

The duo submitted the highest bid of $460 million for the 99-year leasehold site with a gross floor area of 430,880 sq ft. The URA tender was awarded in accordance with the two-envelope Concept and Price Revenue tender system. The other five shortlisted tenderers are the subsidiaries of CapitaLand (Areca Realty) and City Developments (CDL Constellation), which submitted two bids with two concepts; CSC Land Group; Qingjian Realty; as well as Yanlord Singapore Residential and Soilbuild Group Holdings.

According to Lee Nai Jia, senior director and head of research at Knight Frank Singapore, the winning land bid is “within expectations”, considering recent land bids.

Lee says that while an increase in supply is expected to come onstream in the area, it would still be limited compared with other areas. He adds that prospective buyers are likely to come from the owners of landed homes seeking to downsize, or young couples whose parents are living in the area.

Lee says it is likely there will be more of the twoenvelope bidding in place for upcoming government land sales (GLS) sites.