Margaret Drive GLS Site

A consortium consisting of GuocoLand, Hong Leong Holdings’ and Intrepid Investments has emerged as the top bidder for a government land sale (GLS) site on Margaret Drive. Their bid of $497 million, equivalent to $1,154 per square foot per plot ratio (ppr), showcases their expertise and strategic approach.

The Margaret Drive GLS Site has a land size 102,498 sq ft site, which has a 99-year leasehold, has the potential to be transformed into a private condo consisting of 460 units.

Margaret Drive Tender Results

At the close of the tender on August 1, only two bids were received.

The bid from GuocoLand and Hong Leong’s entities is slightly higher, around 5%, compared to the other bid of $473.55 million ($1,100 psf ppr) made by a joint venture between Singapore-listed property developer Sing Holdings and Cedar Investments, an investment holding company with significant shareholders from Sing Holdings’ Lee family.

The residential site in Queenstown, known as Margaret Drive, was put up for sale in May as part of the Confirmed List of the 1H2024 GLS programme. Conveniently located near the Queenstown MRT station on the East-West Line and in close proximity to Queenstown Primary School.

It has been eight years since the last GLS site was launched along Margaret Drive. 14 bids were received at the close of the tender in December 2016. MCL Land emerged as the successful bidder for the site, securing it with a bid of $238.4 million, equivalent to $998 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr).

In June 2018, MCL Land introduced the 309-unit Margaret Ville condominium on the site, with an average price of $1,880 per square foot. The project was fully sold and finished in 2021. According to the latest URA caveats as of August 1st, Margaret Ville has recorded a total of eight transactions this year, with an average price of $2,139 per square foot. There was a recent transaction on June 21 for a two-bedroom unit on the 33rd floor of a 40-storey tower. The unit, measuring 829 sq ft, was sold for $1.85 million, which translates to $2,232 per square foot.

Mohan Sandrasegeran, the head of research and data analytics at SRI, believes that the Margaret Drive GLS site could see advantages from the upcoming amenities at the future Tanglin Halt HDB estate redevelopment. There are plans for a new hawker centre, market, and polyclinic to be located together, along with 5,500 new homes.

Based on his analysis, he predicts that the prices for the new launch on the land parcel will fall within the range of $2,500 psf to $2,600 psf.