Plum sites that were launched for tender after the government implemented its property cooling measures have attracted some of the biggest disparities between the top two bids since 2010.
This was attributed to a greater divergence of views among developers on the impact of the cooling measures, said some market watchers.
This year, two GLS sites with private residential components have already fetched winning margins, with the top two highest bids offering more than S$100 million for the sites. According to Jones Lang LaSalle’s (JLL) analysis, there was only one such case for the whole of 2010.
The two land parcels with bids of over S$100 million so far this year were a plum condo site near Bishan MRT Station and a mixed development site at Punggol Central / Walk near Punggol MRT Station.
The top bid for the Bishan site was offered by CapitaLand at about S$117.8 million, approximately 27 percent more than the second highest bid.
For the Punggol site, a consortium comprising Sekisui House, Frasers Centrepoint and Far East Organization have paid S$171.2 million, over 20 percent more than the next highest bid.
In 2010, the only site that drew a winning bid of over S$100 million was a mixed development plot next to Bedok MRT Station. It was sold to CapitaMalls Asia and CapitaLand Residential Singapore for S$789 million, S$138 million (21 percent) more than the next highest bid.
Overall, since the start of last year, five cases involving a winning margin of more than 20 percent have been recorded, four of which occurred shortly after the cooling measures were implemented.
“I think this is probably due to uncertainty after the announcement of each set of measures,” said Ong Teck Hui, Executive Director of Research and Consultancy at Credo Real Estate.
“Some developers may be more optimistic while others may feel more pessimistic,” he said.
“It boils down to how different developers read the market after the measures. It’s very difficult to assess how the market is going to move forward; as a result, views could be very disparate.”