City Developments Offers Top Bids For Two Singapore Plots Amid Brisk Residential Demand

City Developments Ltd. (CDL)—backed by billionaire Kwek Leng Beng and his family—submitted the highest bids for two suburban residential plots as the developer seeks to replenish its landbank amid resilient housing demand in Singapore.

CDL offered S$361 million ($280 million) for a residential plot in the northern Singapore town of Woodlands, the highest bid received by the Housing & Development Board. The Singapore-listed company also submitted the top bid of S$253 million for another site on Senja Road in the western part of the city-state.

“These two new sites [which would yield] over 700 units represent a timely replenishment of our development pipeline in Singapore,” Sherman Kwek, group CEO of City Developments, said in a statement.

The 99-year leasehold sites would be developed as executive condominiums, which are reserved for Singapore citizens and permanent residents and subject to a five-year minimum occupation period before the property can be sold. CDL is currently building two such projects, which have recently been fully sold, in the western Singapore towns of Bukit Batok and Tengah.

City Developments is stepping up its landbanking activities as developers saw brisk sales at recent condominium launches in prime locations around the city-state’s financial district, reflecting resilient demand for upscale residential projects even as the government recently imposed fresh curbs to rein in property prices.

Over the weekend condominium projects near the Orchard Road shopping precinct record robust sales. Wing Tai Holdings sold 88% of the 524-unit River Green condominium, while billionaire Robert Kuok’s Allgreen Properties’ recorded a 54% takeup rate for its 596-unit Promenade Peak, a 63-story skyscraper across the group’s Great World City retail and office complex.

Demand for residential properties in Singapore looks sustainable as the city-state is considered a safe haven by investors, Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at property consultancy Realion Group, said by email.

“Local and foreign buyers may continue to invest their capital in safer assets, such as Singapore's private properties, amid the macroeconomic uncertainties,” she said. “They may also be drawn by the long-term benefits such as the positive capital and rental returns, despite the prevailing cooling measures.”

Singapore has seen an influx of wealthy families in recent years. Last year, the number of single family offices in the city-state increased 43% to more than 2,000. “Many wealthy families and investors are attracted by Singapore's political stability, business friendly environment, top-notch medical and education systems, and robust financial infrastructures,” Sun said.