Singapore
CBRE commentary for closing of URA sale sites at Marina Gardens Crescent & Media Circle
January 18, 2024
Associated Contact
Head of Marketing & Communications, Singapore
The first tender closings in 2024, URA sites at Marina Gardens Crescent (775 units) and Media Circle (355 units), continued to reflect the cautious sentiment seen in 2023.
The Marina Gardens Crescent site surprised to the downside, drawing just one bid and a top bid price of $984 psf ppr that was 24% below our expectations. The Media Circle site received just 3 bids with a top bid price of $1,191 psf ppr.
This shows continued risk aversion among developers in light of the high interest rate environment, macroeconomic headwinds and the cooling measures. They are generally shying away from large and investor-focused sites in the city. This came as new developer sales slumped to a 15-year low of 6,452 units in 2023.
Marina Gardens Crescent
The white site at Marina Gardens site received a sole bid of $770.46 mil ($984 psf ppr) submitted by a consortium between GuocoLand, Hong Leong Holdings and Mitsui Fudasan Co.
The bid price is 30% lower than the Marina Gardens Lane residential site located just across the road whose tender closed on 27 June 2023 with lacklustre 4 bids and a top bid price of $1.035 bn or $1,402psf ppr and was awarded to a unit of Kingsford Development.
This is indicative of deteriorating developer sentiment for sites which require larger capital outlay and face uncertain end-user demand post-Apr 2023 cooling measures. Existing city project launches have also been deferred. Since the launch of the site’s tender on 30 June 2023, there were hardly any city new launches. 324-unit 99-year leasehold TMW Maxwell launched in Aug 2023 and sold just 6 units at a median price of $3,338 psf. Marina One Residences, which is nearest to this site and completed since 2017, has seen 13 resales transactions in 2023, at a median price of S$2,243psf.
At the top bid price of $984 psf ppr, the breakeven for Marina Garden Crescent may be around S$2,000-2,100 psf. Selling price is likely to take the cue from the earlier-tendered Marina Garden Lane site.
Tender results for Marina Gardens Crescent (from confirmed list H1 2023)
Award date: TBC
Launch date: 30-Jun-23
Close date: 18-Jan-24
Land use zoning: White
Site Area: 22,859 sqm / 246,053 sf
Gross Plot Ratio: 4.2
Commercial space: 6,000 sqm / 64,584 sf
Permissible Gross Floor Area: 72,741 sqm / 782,984 sf
No. of units: 775
Lease Period: 99y
| Name of Tenderer | Parent company | Tender Price | $psf/GFA | % from top bid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GuocoLand (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Intrepid Investments Pte. Ltd. and TID Residential Pte. Ltd. | GuocoLand/Hong Leong Holdings/Mitsui Fudosan Co. | $770,456,256 | $984 | |
Media Circle
The residential with commercial at 1st storey plot at Media Circle drew 3 bids, at the lower range of our expectations with a top bid of $395.29 mil or $1,191 psf ppr from a JV between Qingjian Realty and China Communications Construction Co. The bid price is a narrow 3% above the next highest bid of $1,160 psf ppr from Intrepid Investments Pte. Ltd., TID Residential Pte. Ltd. and Garden Estates (Pte.) Limited; indicative of a consensus for the site.
Bounded by Media Circle, Portsdown Road and the Wessex Estate, is located within one-north’s Mediapolis precinct. The most recent land sales in one-north were the two smaller sites at Slim Barracks. They were awarded in Oct 2021 for $1,210 and $1,246psf ppr respectively, and saw 10 bids each. One of the Slim Barracks sites - Blossoms by the Park, was launched in April 2023 and has sold 229 units or 83% of its 275 units at a median price of $2,441 psf in 2023. The other site – The Hill @one north with 142 units should be launched in 2024.
Media Circle’s residential components could launch at around S$2,350-2,400 psf, slightly lower than Blossoms by the Park’s S$2,441 psf, due to its location further away from the MRT station.
Tender results for Media Circle (from confirmed list H1 2023)
Award date: TBC
Launch date: 30-Jun-23
Close date: 18-Jan-24
Land use zoning: Residential with commercial at 1st storey
Site Area: 10,634 sqm / 114,462 sf
Gross Plot Ratio: 2.9
Commercial space: 400 sqm / 4,306 sf
Permissible Gross Floor Area: 30,839 sqm / 331,951 sf
No. of units: 355
Lease Period: 99y
| |
Name of Tenderer | Parent company | Tender Price | $psf/GFA | % from top bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CNQC Realty (Clementi) Pte. Ltd. and Forsea Residence Pte. Ltd | Qingjian Realty/China Communications Construction Co. | $395,288,889 | $1,191 | |
| 2 | Intrepid Investments Pte. Ltd., TID Residential Pte. Ltd. and Garden Estates (Pte.) Limited | Hong Leong/Mitsui Fudosan/Hong Realty | $385,000,000 | $1,160 | 2.67% |
| 3 |
CEL Development Pte. Ltd. and Singhaiyi Property Development Pte. Ltd. | CEL/Sing-Haiyi/KSH Holdings | $321,009,000 | $967 | 23.14% |
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