United Engineers Developments’ $543mn bid tops tenderers for Bendemeer Road/Whampoa East condo

The site’s proximity to an MRT station boosted developer’s confidence to set the top bid of $543mn or $774 psf/plot ratio.

The residential site at Bendemeer Road/ Whampoa East is adjacent to Bendemeer Primary School. It is a short walk to Boon Keng MRT station which can bring the future residents of this project into the city in around 10 minutes, Li Hiaw Ho, Executive Director of CBRE Research said in its report. 

Its neighbourhood comprises the public housing and shops of Bendemeer HDB estate, private landed homes and apartments, and shophouses along Serangoon Road. The St Andrew’s Village consisting of St Andrew’s Primary and Secondary Schools, as well as St Andrew’s Junior College, is situated close by. A high-rise condominium of around 700 units can be built on the site.

The top bid of $543.0 million or $774 psf/plot ratio by United Engineers Developments reflects the developer’s confidence in this site because of its city-fringe location and proximity to an MRT station, Li added. The bid translates to a breakeven cost of around $1,200 psf. Units in Nin Residence, a new condominium located at Potong Pasir MRT Station, were sold at $1,000 psf – $1,400 psf in January – March 2011. Sub-sales at Woodleigh 28 were contracted at around $1,000 psf in January 2011. We expect units in this new project to be launched at around $1,350 psf – $1,400 psf.

“This is the fourth site on the Confirmed List of the GLS programme for H1 2011. We observed that recent land tenders have attracted less than 10 bids. This is probably because they are aware that 12 more residential sites, and more from the Reserve List if they are triggered, will be supplied by the government by June 2011.“ Li concluded.