_Knight Frank Commentary (GLS Tender Closing of Bayshore Road)

Tender Closing for GLS Site

Bayshore Road

There were eight bidders for the Bayshore Road site, as more developers participated in this latest government land tender, which is now the most popular and heavily contested site since the nine bids at the Plantation Close executive condominium (EC) in June 2023 (launched as Novo Place EC), and with more bidders than the seven at the Tampines Street 62 (Parcel B) EC site in July 2023 (the recently launched Aurelle of Tampines). Although developers continue to be mindful of development costs that constitute land and construction costs, as well as taxes, the attractiveness of the Bayshore Road site had overridden some of these concerns. The top three bids coming in above S$1,300 psf ppr is above expectations.  

This Bayshore Road site is the first in an area that has been earmarked by the government for growth with residential waterfront homes, connected neighbourhoods, parks and recreational space. The announced 800-ha reclaimed Long Island coastal protection project along the East Coast shoreline also adds greater space in the form of planned reservoirs and coastal parks, fronting the Bayshore area. The site also has immediate access to the operational Bayshore MRT Station.

The HDB BTO exercise of October 2024 included the launch of 1,792 units of which 1,444 future homes were to be in Bayshore in the two projects of Bayshore Palms and Bayshore Vista. Bedok (also comprising Kembangan Wave) was 4.9 times oversubscribed at the end of the BTO exercise, and perhaps served as a forward-looking indicator of homebuyer demand when developers were forming their bids for today’s tender close at this location.

Eight bidders with a top bid of S$658.9 million comes in above expectations, given that land tenders in 2024 and 2025 to-date had an average participation of  around three bids. Perhaps developers were saving their gunpowder at previous tenders for the more attractive sites, such as Bayshore Road. At a land rate of S$1,388 psf ppr, the selling prices at launch could possibly start from S$2,700 psf and average above S$2,800 psf depending on the design and finishes of the project.