The tender for an executive condo (EC) land parcel on Woodlands Avenue 12 drew six bids at its close on Feb 12. The top bid of $103.8 million, which translates into $278 psf per plot ratio (ppr) came from Hao Yuan Investment. Based on Hao Yuan Investment’s bid price, Chia Siew Chuin of Colliers International estimates that the break-even price is likely to be $620 psf, with launch prices between $650 and $700 psf.

The recent tender closed against a backdrop of a growing stock of 2,400 launched and unsold EC units, with another 6,000 units in the pipeline, says Desmond Lim, head of CBRE Research. That could explain the reason for the relatively low bids, he adds.

According to Nicholas Mak of SLP International, the bid price of $278 psf ppr is the lowest since July 2011, when Frasers Centrepoint and Keong Hong jointly bid $270 psf ppr for an EC site on Punggol Way. The site has since been developed into Twin Waterfalls.

This article appeared in the City & Country of Issue 665 (Feb 23) of The Edge Singapore.