Release of the Lentor Gardens property and the Lentor Central GLS site

The residential Government Land Sale (GLS) site located at Lentor Central has been launched to auction, according to a press release issued from URA on the 12th of April. The site is listed on the Confirmed List for the 1H2023 GLS Programme. URA has also made available an residential site located at Lentor Gardens, which is open for applications through the Reserve List. Both sites are leasehold with a tenure that is 99 years.

The Myst showflat address convenient location, residents are just minutes away from major amenities such as shopping malls, schools, restaurants, and hospitals.

The Lentor Central site is 14,703.2 sq meters (158,263.9 sq feet). It could yield approximately 475 units of residential homes, with a an aggregate GFA (GFA) that is 41,169 square meters. The site is part of 4,090 units of residential homes to be available through the Confirmed List of 1H2023 GLS program which is an increase of 17% increase over the 3,505 units available in the 2H2022 period.

However it is worth noting that Lentor Gardens is a different site. Lentor Gardens site has a 20,640.8 sq m site area. It is able to produce 500 homes, with a an maximum GFA of 42.3346 sq meters.

Lentor Central is the Lentor Central site is the sixth site in the Lentor Hills estate that is to be offered to tender. “If each of the sites are sold then the Lentor precinct could have around 2,943 units being completed within the next four or five years.” states Lee Sze Teck the chief research officer of research at Huttons Asia.

First GLS site within the Lentor Hills estate was awarded to GuocoLand for $784.1 million, or $1,204 per square foot for a plot-to-plot proportion (psf or ppr) in July 2021. The site was offered for sale under an integrated development Lentor Modern in September 2022. The site was a hit with an average of 84% of the 605 units upon its launch.

The most recent parcel of land that was auctioned off in the estate was Lentor Gardens. The auction, which ended on April 4 received only one bid from a joint venture of GuocoLand as well as Hong Leong Group. Their offer on this site is $486.8 million ($985 per psf ppr).

In announcing that the bid was considerably lower than the land prices of the previous Lentor sites, Wong Siew Ying the head of content and research for PropNex Realty, highlights that one reason could be the harmonization the definitions of floor areas. It was announced through URA through a circular released last September, the new definitions will be in effect as of 1 June.

The new guidelines state that each strata area has to be included in GFA and will be guided in accordance with the Master Plan plot ratio for the site. This could impact the saleable area of the condo development, Wong observes.

Huttons’ Lee concurs. “The harmonization of GFA rules will likely to decrease the sellable area by at minimum 5% and could affect the pricing of land as well as selling prices.” He further states that the huge pipeline of nearly three thousand units may be in the process of causing the decline in the bids on Lentor sites.

PropNex’s Wong believes that the most recent Lentor Central GLS site could be a magnet for one to 2 bidders with a top bid ranging from $434.3 million – $456.4 million (or $980-$1,030 per square foot per). In the case of Lentor Gardens, which is the Lentor Gardens site located on the Reserve List, she views the possibility for the site being put up to be sold through developers to be “relatively low” and is backed by the abundance of upcoming inventory in Lentor and the cautious sentiment in the market and a lowered risk-aversion.

However, Huttons’ Lee predicts Lentor Central will receive “between one to three” bidders and the highest bid will be of $1,050 to $950 per. He also believes that Lentor Gardens as a Lentor Gardens site as unlikely to trigger a the sale.

Tenders for Lentor Central site will close at noon on Sept 12.