-- The tender at Bukit Timah Road (340 units) drew 8 bids and a top bid price of $1,820 psf ppr, above expectations. The top bid was submitted by HH Investment Private Limited – believed to be the Singapore subsidiary of Taiwan's Huang Hsiang Construction Corp, which was also the developer of Balmoral Place, a 28-unit freehold apartment on Balmoral Crescent in District 10 that was completed in 2000.
The robust participation has come alongside robust new sales at recent CCR launches, including the near sell-out of Skye at Holland over its launch weekend from 11 – 12 Oct.
Homebuying appetite has recovered strongly amid low interest rates and economic resilience, which appears to have boosted developer confidence, especially in locations that seem to tick all the boxes of: palatable size of under 500 units, being near city centre, MRT, schools and amenities.
At 8 bids, this makes the Bukit Timah Road site one of the most popular tenders in 2025 to date, after the 9 bids received each for Dorset Road (425 units) in October 2025 and Dunearn Road (380 units) in July 2025, and on par with the 8 bids received for Bayshore Road (515 units) site in March 2025.
The top bid price of $1,820 psf ppr is the highest price psf ppr paid for a GLS site in the Core Central Region (CCR) since April 2018 when SC Global, together with New World Development and Far East Consortium, paid $2,377 psf ppr for a GLS site on Cuscaden Road, which was later developed into 192-unit Cuscaden Reserve. The top bid price of $1,820 psf ppr is thus the highest bid price for a CCR land site in recent years, 29.1% higher than the $1,410 psf ppr recorded for Dunearn Road, and also 12.6% above the $1,617 psf ppr for Orchard Boulevard which was awarded on Feb 2024 and launched in Jul 2025 as Upperhouse at Orchard Boulevard.
Bukit Timah Road (340 units)
Source: URA SPACE
The top bid was a considerable 12.3% higher than the second highest bid of $1,621 psf ppr submitted by Hoi Hup Realty/Sunway Developments and 17% higher than the third highest bid placed by Wing Tai Holdings Limited, with the bottom 4 bidders 18-28% lower than the top bid, indicating some divergent views on the site.
Location-wise, the most recent GLS comparable in the immediate vicinity was Kampong Java Road awarded to Chip Eng Seng in Jan 2019 after drawing 7 bids and a top bid price of $418.80 mil or $1,192 psf ppr.
We believe the key attractions of the Bukit Timah Road site are: its connectivity and proximity to Newton MRT, an underground MRT interchange station on the North South (NSL) and Downtown (DTL) lines; its location within 1km of 2 primary schools (SJIJ and ACS Junior) and in a prime neighbourhood 1 MRT stop away from the Orchard Road shopping belt. It is also of a palatable size and the first residential site, under the Draft Master Plan 2025, to kick-start the transformation of Newton area from its current business-oriented nature to a more balanced residential and lifestyle hub, with white sites or mixed-use developments planned around Newton MRT.
Nearby 99y-leasehold and FH comparables
Source: CBRE Research, realis, data downloaded as of 10 Nov 2025. We only include projects with at least 5 transactions in 2025.
The closest 99-year comparable should be Kopar at Newton, which has a similar scale of 378 units, was launched in Mar 2020, the first project to launch amidst the heightened Covid-19 guidelines around crowd avoidance announced on 24 March 2020 and was fully sold by late 2023. There were 16 resale transactions in 2025 so far at a median price of $2,600 psf in 2025.
Another nearby newly completed project is Pullman Residences Newton, which is freehold, also of similar scale with 340 units, saw five transactions in 2025 so far at a median price of $3,011psf.
Other older nearby 99-year projects such as Orchard Scotts, Rochelle At Newton and Amaryllis Ville traded at median prices of $1,718 – $2,117 psf.
Over at prime Orchard Boulevard, Upperhouse at Orchard Boulevard, was launched in July 2025 and has since sold 212 or 70.4% of its 301 units at a median price of S$3,280 psf.
For this Bukit Timah Road site, we expect the developer could look to launch the new project at an average price of $3,300-3,500 psf.
About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBRE), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Dallas, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2024 revenue). The company has more than 140,000 employees (including Turner & Townsend employees) serving clients in more than 100 countries. CBRE serves clients through four business segments: Advisory (leasing, sales, debt origination, mortgage servicing, valuations); Building Operations & Experience (facilities management, property management, flex space & experience, digital infrastructure services); Project Management (program management, project management, cost consulting); Real Estate Investments (investment management, development). Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.
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