SINGAPORE — A landed housing site in Hougang attracted keen interest by the close of tender yesterday, with the top bid coming from a group led by a Chinese developer amounting to S$75.8 million, Urban Redevelopment Authority data showed.

The 99-year leasehold site, released from the Confirmed List of the 1st half 2017 Government Land Sales (GLS) programme, sits on about 144,221 sqf that can be developed into about 50 homes.

These can be conventional landed housing or strata landed housing, with a maximum building height of three storeys.

The highest bid, coming from a group comprising Fantasia Investment (Singapore) — a unit of Hong Kong-listed Chinese developer Fantasia Holdings, and individuals Sun Renwang and Yang Xinping, translated to S$525.58 per sqf of site area. It was 22.2 per cent higher than the second-best bid of S$62 million from a local group comprising SingHaiyi Investments and Haiyi Wealth. In all, there were 11 bids.

Mr Nicholas Mak, head of Research & Consultancy Department at SLP International Property Consultants, said: “As expected, this sole landed housing development site in the 1st half 2017 GLS programme was fiercely fought over.

“A significant number of medium-sized developers and contractor-developers who are hungry for suitable development sites have participated in this tender.”

“The site’s positive attributes, such as its location within a landed enclave and its proximity to the Hougang MRT Station, have helped to attract much interest from developers … Based on the top bid, the developer of this project could be aiming to launch the residential units at above S$1,445 psf of land from late 2018 onwards,” he added.

Cash-rich Chinese developers have been making headlines in Singapore’s housing market of late as they sent in the top bids and set records in both GLS tenders and the collective sale market.

Last month, units of China’s Nanshan Group and Logan Property submitted the winning bid above S$1 billion for a land parcel in Stirling Road, the first time that a purely residential site on the GLS programme has exceeded that price quantum.