SINGAPORE - A state tender for a private residential site in Lorong Puntong, off Sin Ming Avenue, has drawn the highest number of bids for a residential site in over a year.

The close of tender on Oct 8 saw China-based Nanshan Group emerging as the top bidder out of 18 offers.

Source: URA

ST GRAPHICS LI ZHAOWEI

Nanshan's bid of $173.5 million works out to $731 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

The last time a private residential site saw such strong competition was in June last year at Faber Walk, where Waterfront@Faber is planned.

Mr Ong Teck Hui, national director of research and consultancy at Jones Lang LaSalle, noted that while the market has slowed, the top bid was higher than the $720 psf ppr paid for the nearby Thomson Three site in August 2012.

"The competition for the subject site was also much more intense, with 18 bidders, which is three times more than the six parties vying for the Thomson Three site," he said.

Mr Desmond Sim, Head, CBRE Research, Singapore, said the future Thomson Line would be a selling point to home buyers as the site is situated between two future MRT stations.