Strong bids for plum GLS sites slated to kick-start urban renewal

Developers have been more cautious in bids for larger sites seen as risky investments

- Grace Leong

A number of plum state land plots in neighbourhoods slated for major urban renewal were among the more hotly contested sites in recent months.

Fuelling developers' interest are new home sales reaching four-year highs in October 2025, lower borrowing costs, low unsold housing inventory and Singapore's better-than-expected economic showing in 2025.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, Government Land Sales (GLS) sites received an average of five bids per site in 2025, compared with about two bids per site in 2024.

Five state land tenders that closed in 2025 attracted between eight and 10 bids each. All were near transport nodes, and in estates earmarked for transformation under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Master Plan 2025.

The most popular state tender in 2025 is Bedok Rise, a greenfield site next to Tanah Merah MRT station that can yield 380 condo units.

It attracted 10 bids on Nov 27, with the top bid of $464.8 million, or $1,330 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr) from the Kuok Group's Allgreen Properties.

Interest in the area is riding on the upcoming Changi Airport Terminal 5, with its first phase scheduled for completion in the mid-2030s, and proximity to business hubs in Paya Lebar, Tampines and Changi.

On Nov 12, another site next to Newton MRT station drew an unusually high bid of $566.29 million, or nearly $1,820 psf ppr, from Taiwan's Huang Hsiang Construction Corp.

Huang Hsiang was up against seven other developers, and its bid was the highest land rate for a residential-only state tender since 2018, when a Cuscaden Road GLS parcel was awarded.

The 99-year leasehold Newton site, which can yield about 340 private homes, is the first GLS plot along Bukit Timah Road to kick-start the transformation of the area into a mixed-use urban village.