The Merlion statue in Singapore.
City Developments (CDL)—controlled by billionaire Kwek Leng Beng—and its joint venture partners submitted the top bid of S$968 million ($715 million) for a residential site in the north central Singapore district of Toa Payoh as the developer replenishes its landbank to tap into resilient housing demand in the Lion City.
Should the government award the site to the partners, the consortium plans to build two 40-story residential towers comprising about 800 units on the 15,743 square meter plot, offering future residents panoramic views of the nearby MacRitchie Reservoir. CDL will hold a 50% stake in the project, while Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s Frasers Property and Japan’s Sekisui House will each hold equal stakes of 25%.
“Considering the limited new home supply in the vicinity, our development will offer homeowners an attractive opportunity to reside in a mature town with excellent connectivity and plentiful amenities,” Sherman Kwek, group CEO of CDL, said in a statement. “Together with our partners, we look forward to tapping on our collective expertise to create an iconic development in the highly sought-after Toa Payoh estate.”
The Toa Payoh plot is one of the three sites auctioned in the final government land sales for the year. Singapore has been accelerating the release of residential sites to help temper record home prices in the city state. Private housing prices have risen about 3.9% so far this year, after rising 8.6% in 2022.
Among the three sites, the 13,451 square meter plot at Clementi Avenue 1 in the western part of Singapore was the most popular, drawing six bids. The top bid of S$633.4 million was submitted by a joint venture between Hongkong Land unit MCL Land, and its partner CSC Land, part of China State Construction Engineering Corp.
MCL Land and its partner Sinarmas Land, controlled by Indonesia’s Widjaja family, also submitted the top bid of S$692.39 million for a 25,039 square meter site in Pine Grove in the affluent Bukit Timah enclave in Singapore’s western central region.
