How many bids will the Lorong 1 Toa Payoh site attract?

Developers may bid cautiously due to recent tepid responses to GLS tenders, experts warned.

The Lorong 1 Toa Payoh site will likely receive "fairly decent" interest from developers, with at least four to eight bidders, according to real estate experts.

Wong Siew Ying, head of Research and Content at PropNex Realty, underscored that the Toa Payoh estate has not seen any new private home launches since 2016.

"The last GLS site to be tendered for in the area was the plot across the road in Lorong 6 Toa Payoh / Lorong 4 Toa Payoh, which was awarded for $345.86 million ($755 psf per plot ratio) in June 2015. The site was launched for sale as the 578-unit Gem Residences, which sold 50% of the units at an average price of $1,425 psf during its launch in May 2016," Wong said.

"The units in Gem Residences were fully sold out by October 2019. Looking at caveat data at Gem Residences, more than 50% of the new launch buyers have an HDB address – suggesting strong upgraders’ demand for this neighbourhood," Wong added.

Lee Sze Teck. senior director for Data Analytics at Huttons, echoed Wong, saying: "There may be pent-up demand for new private residential homes as it has been eight years since the last GLS site was sold for private housing in Lorong 1 Toa Payoh.”

Justin Quek, deputy CEO of OrangeTee & Tie, believes the upcoming project at the the Lorong 1 Toa Payoh site will be "popular among families as it is surrounded by many schools like Raffles Girls School (Secondary), Raffles Institution, Pei Chun Public School, Beatty Secondary School, CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh), CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh), Guangyang Primary School, Guangyang Secondary School, and Kheng Cheng School."

Quek added that the site is also near amenities such as markets, polyclinics, sports facilities and hawker centres, and is a short walk from Braddell MRT station on the North-South Line.

Quek expects the highest bid price for the site to be around $1,100 to $1,250 psf ppr. Meanwhile, Wong thinks the tender’s top bid price will come in at $783m to $854m or a land rate of $1,100 to $1,200 psf.

Lee, for his part, said the Lor 1 Toa Payoh site may see up to 5 bidders and a top bid of around $1,200 psf ppr given that the tender for Clementi Ave 1 and Pine Grove (Parcel B) will also close on the same day.

“This may divide developers’ focus,” said Lee, adding that interest in the other two GLS sites may be lukewarm and see no more than three bidders.