Business Times - 08 Dec 2004
Redhill, Tanah Merah sites available in H1 2005
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
TWO fairly attractive residential sites - one next to Redhill MRT Station and the other near Tanah Merah MRT Station - will be made available to developers through the reserve list in the first half of next year.
The Redhill MRT Station plot is across the road from the Tanglin Regency and Tanglin View condos. It can be developed into a 375-unit condo. Property consultants expect it to fetch about $280-$300 per square foot per plot ratio.
The 0.93-ha site has a 4.9 plot ratio, or ratio of potential gross floor area to land area.
The 2.2-ha Tanah Merah parcel is next to the East Meadows condo. The site can potentially accommodate 510 condo units and has a plot ratio of 2.8.
Analysts say it could fetch about $220-$270 psf ppr.
The two sites are among four new 99-year leasehold land parcels that will be introduced to the reserve list for H1 2005.
The other two are prime sites above Orchard MRT Station (for commercial development) and the Glutton's Square carpark site next to Specialists' Shopping Centre/Hotel Phoenix. The latter can take a commercial/residential project, or a hotel.
Another 14 plots in the reserve list for the current half-year will roll over to the first six months of next year.
Under the reserve list, a site is released for tender only if there's demand for it. Specifically, the state must receive at least one application from a developer with an undertaking to bid at a minimum price which the government finds acceptable. Since October 2001, this has been the only channel through which the government has been making available land for development in the face of a property glut.
Under the government's confirmed list sales procedure - which remains frozen - sites had been released for tender according to an announced schedule regardless of the level of interest in the sites.
Chesterton International's director Nicholas Mak notes that although the government is continuing to make available land for H1 2005 solely through the reserve list system, the potential number of homes and commercial space that could be developed from the sites is higher than that for the current half-year.
The 18 reserve sites for H1 2005 can generate about 3,300 private homes and 325,000 sq metres of commercial gross floor area (GFA). This is against 2,600 homes and 242,000 sq metres commercial GFA that could be developed from the sites offered for H2 this year, he added.
Besides this increase in potential supply, the spread of offerings is now also more appetising, which should raise the likelihood of developers making successful applications for many of the sites, he added.
The National Development Ministry said yesterday that in deciding not to release sites through the confirmed list for H1 2005, it had reviewed market conditions and the sites to be made available through the reserve list for the period.
Developers were a merry bunch yesterday. A CapitaLand spokesman said the 'reserve list system has served the needs of the market well through its ability to vary supply according to demand'. The government's decision to continue making sites available through the reserve list will 'enable the market to respond more flexibly in its recovery process', he said.
A spokesman for City Developments said the move will 'allow more time for the Singapore property market to recover'. 'Our recovery is still far behind that of neighbouring countries.'
The Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore also welcomed the government's decision. 'Redas appreciates the government's pro-business approach in its policy review,' it said.
Copyright © 2004 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.
Redhill, Tanah Merah sites available in H1 2005
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
TWO fairly attractive residential sites - one next to Redhill MRT Station and the other near Tanah Merah MRT Station - will be made available to developers through the reserve list in the first half of next year.
The Redhill MRT Station plot is across the road from the Tanglin Regency and Tanglin View condos. It can be developed into a 375-unit condo. Property consultants expect it to fetch about $280-$300 per square foot per plot ratio.
The 0.93-ha site has a 4.9 plot ratio, or ratio of potential gross floor area to land area.
The 2.2-ha Tanah Merah parcel is next to the East Meadows condo. The site can potentially accommodate 510 condo units and has a plot ratio of 2.8.
Analysts say it could fetch about $220-$270 psf ppr.
The two sites are among four new 99-year leasehold land parcels that will be introduced to the reserve list for H1 2005.
The other two are prime sites above Orchard MRT Station (for commercial development) and the Glutton's Square carpark site next to Specialists' Shopping Centre/Hotel Phoenix. The latter can take a commercial/residential project, or a hotel.
Another 14 plots in the reserve list for the current half-year will roll over to the first six months of next year.
Under the reserve list, a site is released for tender only if there's demand for it. Specifically, the state must receive at least one application from a developer with an undertaking to bid at a minimum price which the government finds acceptable. Since October 2001, this has been the only channel through which the government has been making available land for development in the face of a property glut.
Under the government's confirmed list sales procedure - which remains frozen - sites had been released for tender according to an announced schedule regardless of the level of interest in the sites.
Chesterton International's director Nicholas Mak notes that although the government is continuing to make available land for H1 2005 solely through the reserve list system, the potential number of homes and commercial space that could be developed from the sites is higher than that for the current half-year.
The 18 reserve sites for H1 2005 can generate about 3,300 private homes and 325,000 sq metres of commercial gross floor area (GFA). This is against 2,600 homes and 242,000 sq metres commercial GFA that could be developed from the sites offered for H2 this year, he added.
Besides this increase in potential supply, the spread of offerings is now also more appetising, which should raise the likelihood of developers making successful applications for many of the sites, he added.
The National Development Ministry said yesterday that in deciding not to release sites through the confirmed list for H1 2005, it had reviewed market conditions and the sites to be made available through the reserve list for the period.
Developers were a merry bunch yesterday. A CapitaLand spokesman said the 'reserve list system has served the needs of the market well through its ability to vary supply according to demand'. The government's decision to continue making sites available through the reserve list will 'enable the market to respond more flexibly in its recovery process', he said.
A spokesman for City Developments said the move will 'allow more time for the Singapore property market to recover'. 'Our recovery is still far behind that of neighbouring countries.'
The Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore also welcomed the government's decision. 'Redas appreciates the government's pro-business approach in its policy review,' it said.
Copyright © 2004 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.