Land Parcel Upper Thomson winner revealed

As posted in www.h88.com.sg on 9 Nov 2009 by John

Upper Thomson land parcel winner revealed

We should have known there was a Hong Kong hand behind the bid. Just look at the bid numbers - 251338668. The bidder, Treasure Well Investments, is actually a unit of Cheung Kong Holdings, which belongs to - who else - Hong Kong's richest tycoon Li Ka-Shing.

If you've been hiding under a rock, Li Ka-Shing is one of the world's richest men (#16 at $16.2 billon). Singapore's richest - Far East's Ng Teng Fong - is at #118 with a paltry $6.1 billion. No wonder Far East lost the bid (they were second)!

The question is: are they overpaying? Their bid was a good 21.5% over Far East's. Are they flush with funds thanks to the property boom in China and Hong Kong? Maybe. But we think the answer is simpler: they have better feng-shui masters.

As you know Cheung Kong's bid was a nice $251,338,668.00. It shows far greater detail and thoughtfulness, all the way down to the dollar. Far East's on the other hand, was a mere $206,800,000.00. Where are the combo threes and the sixes?

On a more serious note, according to their spokesperson, they plan to build around 340 to 350 units. They added that the breakeven cost will be around $850 to $900 psf.

They seem to be quite confident, Mr Raymond Chui, GM of the group's Singapore-based unit Property Enterprises Development tells the Business Times,

We've done our sums. The site is in a very good location and we have confidence in the future of the Singapore property market.

Far East's bid came in at $206.8m, which works out to $438.8 psf ppr, suggesting a breakeven of price around $840psf and a potential selling price of around $940-$1,040 psf. Cheung Kong Holding's on the other hand works out to a potential selling price of $1,000-$1,100psf.

Note to Ng Teng Fong, time to get a new geomancer!

Fifth reserve site triggered by developer; The Gardens at Bishan might lose view

Another plot of land on the Reserve List at Upper Thomson Road will be put up for public tender. This is the fifth that has been triggered since July.


Located in District 20, this 99yr leasehold residential parcel sits close to the reservoir and squarely in mass market condominium land.

Residents of The Gardens at Bishan(plot ratio 2.5) will be very disappointed considering this plot sits in the way of their currently unblocked reservoir view, although the plot ratio of this new parcel of land is slightly lower at 2.1.




The new land parcel will be in the way of the wonderful reservoir view of The Gardens at Bishan. (Image for illustration purpose only).

The land parcel is 20,847.7 square meters large and has a maximum permissable gross floor area of 43,781 square meters.

The previous land parcel winner for the seletar site was won by Far East Organization only recently. Are Singaporeans really so hard up for mass market condos, or is this going to be tragedy of the masses?
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