A tender for a mixed-use site at Yishun Central 1 drew a stunning top bid of $1.43 billion when it closed on Thursday.

The winning bid was from North Gem Development and FC North Gem Trustee, units of Frasers Centrepoint. It translates into a price of $1,077 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio (ppr) and beat four other offers, also from prominent property players here.

The next highest bid, submitted jointly by Far East Civil Engineering, Far East Orchard and Sekisui House, was 47 per cent lower at $969.3 million, or $731 psf ppr.

The Hong Leong Group submitted the third highest bid of $930 million, while the Sim Lian Group put in its bid of $875 million. CapitaLand was the lowest bidder with an offer of $704.5 million.

Fraser's bid also trumped the top bid put in by CEL Property for another mixed-use site at Yishun Ring Road in January, at $212.1 million or $794 psf ppr.

"It is possible that the top bidder had expected keen competition for this site that they decided to put in such a high bid," said ERA Realty's key executive officer Eugene Lim.

The aggressive bid by Frasers could also be a result of the firm's attempt to reinforce its stronghold of shopping centres in the North, namely, Northpoint and Causeway Point, added CBRE Research associate director Desmond Sim.

The residential portion of the development is expected to be popular with homebuyers as it will sit above the future Yishun bus interchange, and is next to the Yishun MRT.

The plot can yield about 890 units which are expected to be launched at about $1,350 to $1,450 psf.