SINGAPORE - A residential site in Lorong 1 Toa Payoh has been put up for sale under the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme. This is the first time in eight years a land parcel in Toa Payoh is being offered to private developers.
The 99-year leasehold site spans 15,743 sq m and has a maximum gross floor area of 66,121 sq m. It can yield about 775 residential units, making up part of the 5,160 private homes the Government has planned for the second half of 2023, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
Analysts said there may be pent-up demand for new private homes in Toa Payoh, as the last GLS site launched in the area was in 2015.
That site in Lorong 6/Lorong 4, which is opposite the plot launched on Tuesday, was sold for $345.86 million, or $755 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr), in June 2015.
A consortium of developers launched Gem Residences there in May 2016 and sold 50 per cent of the 578 units at an average of $1,425 psf at its launch. The condominium was fully sold by October 2019.
PropNex Realty head of research and content Wong Siew Ying said data for new home sales at Gem Residences showed that 50 per cent of the buyers have a Housing Board address, indicating strong demand from upgraders in the mature estate.
She expects developers to be cautious in bidding for the new site, given the lukewarm response to recent GLS launches. “That said, we do expect interest for this site among developers to be fairly decent, as the Toa Payoh estate has not seen any new private home launches since 2016,” she said, adding that she expects four or five bids topping at about $783 million to $854 million, or a land rate of $1,100 psf ppr to $1,200 psf ppr.
HDB resale flats in Toa Payoh have been yielding higher prices, and this may support home owners who are looking to upgrade within the same neighbourhood, said OrangeTee & Tie deputy chief executive Justin Quek.
The project at the new site, which used to house the Police Security Command, will be attractive to families as it is surrounded by popular schools such as Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary), CHIJ Primary Toa Payoh and CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh), he added.
Huttons Asia senior director of data analytics Lee Sze Teck noted that five-room flats at The Peak @ Toa Payoh, a Design, Build and Sell Scheme development, have been transacting at over $1 million, while four-room flats that were sold upon reaching the minimum occupation period (MOP) have exceeded $800,000. “There is a sizeable pool of potential HDB upgraders who may want to continue living in this popular HDB estate,” he said.
ERA Singapore key executive officer Eugene Lim said that as future Build-To-Order flats in Toa Payoh are likely to fall under the Prime and Plus categories, the stricter resale conditions could drive buyers to look for private homes in the area instead.
Plus and Prime flats, part of the reclassification of HDB flats kicking in from the second half of 2024, come with a 10-year MOP before they can be sold, and a subsidy clawback under which flat owners return subsidies to HDB upon selling their flats. There will also be an income ceiling for resale buyers.
The tender will close at noon on Nov 7, along with the tender for two sites in Clementi Avenue 1 and Pine Grove in Ulu Pandan, which were launched in August.
