A total of 14 bids were received at the close of the public tender on September 27 for the 99-year leasehold Fernvale Road site. The winning bid came from a partnership of Sing Development and Wee Hur Development with an offer of $287.1 million, or about $517.03 psf ppr for the 99-year leasehold parcel. It was just a tad above This was just 0.005% higher than the next highest bid of $287.09 million ($517.00 psf ppr) by China Construction (South Pacific) Development Co.

The top three bids are very close at only 0.07% premium separating the top and third bid. This is an indication that these bidders share similar views on pricing of the projects as well as construction costs control, says Desmond Sim, Head, CBRE Research, Singapore and South East Asia.

Sim notes that the cutback in residential sites has positively reduced unsold stock, which has whet the appetite of developers. “This is reflected in the number of bids for this Fernvale plot, bolstered by the success of High Park Residences and coupled with the fact that the Perumal Road site is probably the only site left for sale for 2016,” says Sim.

CBRE expects more residential sites to be released in the next GLS sales programme to prevent land bids from escalating.