Siglap now, Serangoon North later

James Lim · CEA Reg. R063631F · PropNex Realty Pte Ltd

URA released two residential sites on 29 September: an 85-unit plot on East Coast Road in Siglap that goes to tender on 3 December, and a 235-unit Reserve List plot at Serangoon North View that stays parked until a developer triggers it. The East Coast Road site is the one that matters this quarter. It is the first residential state land in Siglap since the plot that became Seaside Residences was awarded in 2016, it carries a rule that units must average at least 100 sqm, and the four analyst calls on the top bid run from $1,100 to $1,650 psf ppr. On our land-cost arithmetic that points to a launch in the high $2,000s psf and a typical unit near $3 million.

What exactly is on offer at East Coast Road?

A 99-year residential site of 5,503 sqm, about 59,200 sqft, on the south side of East Coast Road at its junction with East Coast Terrace, directly across the road from Siglap Centre. An open drain cuts it into two plots, 2,481.1 sqm and 3,021.9 sqm, and the tender allows either one project across both or two separate developments. The maximum gross floor area is 8,805 sqm, about 94,800 sqft, which is a plot ratio of 1.6 and works out to roughly 1,115 sqft of buildable space per home across 85 units. The successful bidder may also build long-stay serviced apartments on the second plot. Tenders close at noon on 3 December 2026. The site is one of nine Confirmed List plots in the 2H2026 programme, which the Government sized at 4,745 private homes to keep supply high, with a further 4,455 on the Reserve List.

The 100 sqm rule is the detail that shapes everything else. URA imposed it because the area is identified as having traffic constraints, and its practical effect is to rule out the studio-heavy unit mix that drives most suburban launches. PropNex’s Wong Siew Ying expects larger, family-oriented homes that may appeal to right-sizers from landed housing nearby, and that is the buyer this site is really built for: the Frankel, Opera Estate and Siglap landed owner who wants to stay in the neighbourhood without the upkeep.

Why does a plot this small matter?

Because Siglap has not had a state land sale for a residential project in a decade, and the corridor has had almost no new supply either. The last GLS site here was the Siglap Road plot awarded in January 2016 at $858 psf ppr after eight bids, which became the 841-unit Seaside Residences, launched in April 2017 and sold out by 2021. Since then the only new project along East Coast Road was 77 @ East Coast, 41 units launched in March 2020, according to Realion’s Justin Quek, who expects the new site to meet pent-up demand. Seaside Residences itself averaged $2,327 psf on 2025 resales, per EdgeProp’s project study of August 2025, against a national average of $1,605 psf for 99-year suburban condos over the same period.

Small also means safer for the developer. ERA’s Marcus Chu argues that boutique sites let developers manage construction, pricing and sales risk more tightly, and he expects more than five bidders. Huttons’ Mark Yip points out that only one GLS plot has ever been smaller by unit count, the Chong Kuo Road site of February 2018 that became the 84-unit The Essence. An 85-unit project in an established, affluent estate with a captive right-sizing pool is the kind of tender a mid-sized developer can win and sell without a second phase.

What will the land price be, and what does it underwrite?

The honest answer is that the research houses disagree more than usual, which is itself information. The spread of $1,100 to $1,650 psf ppr is a 50% gap between the lowest and highest call, and it reflects a real argument about whether a small site in a traffic-constrained pocket earns the same land rate as the big Bedok plots that have set records this year.

The Bayshore row is the one to study, because it has already completed the whole cycle. SingHaiyi paid $1,388 psf ppr in March 2025, and thirteen months later Vela Bay opened at an average of $2,886 psf and sold 72% on day one. That is the land-to-launch relationship in this planning area, live, and it is roughly two times the land rate. Apply the same structure to East Coast Road and the PropNex and Realion calls of $1,450 to $1,650 point at launch pricing in the high $2,000s to about $3,000 psf, while the Huttons call of $1,300 would allow something in the mid $2,000s. Either way, on a 1,076 sqft minimum average, the typical unit clears $2.8 million and the three-bedders that right-sizers want will sit above $3 million. This is our arithmetic, not a forecast, and the developer who wins will decide the mix.

What about Serangoon North View, and why is it parked?

It is a signal that says not yet. The site is on the Reserve List, which means URA will only put it to tender if a developer commits to a minimum price the Government accepts, and nobody we have read expects that to happen soon. The plot is 8,085.9 sqm with a plot ratio of 2.5, enough for 235 homes, at the corner of Kensington Park Drive and Jalan Chulek, immediately west of The Garden Residences, whose own land was awarded in August 2017 at $965 psf ppr to a Keppel Land and Wing Tai joint venture. Its future draw is the Cross Island Line: Serangoon North station is about 700 m away and targeted to open in 2030.

The reason it stays parked is supply. Sing Holdings and Sunway bought two adjacent Chuan Grove plots in 2025, at $1,376 psf ppr in July and $1,331 in September, and have in-principle approval to combine them into a project of about 1,055 homes that Knight Frank’s Leonard Tay estimates could launch at $2,900 to $3,000 psf. A third Chuan Grove plot of about 935 units joins the Reserve List in October. Chuan Park, one stop down, sold 76% of its 916 units on its November 2024 launch weekend at an average of $2,537 psf and was 85% sold at a median of $2,592 psf by September 2025. That is more than 2,000 new homes queued in the same catchment before anyone needs Serangoon North View.

For owners in the Serangoon North estates the useful number is the gap. The Garden Residences, completed in 2021, is listed today at roughly $1,780 to $1,880 psf, while Chuan Park cleared $2,500 next door. Part of that gap is the MRT that does not exist yet, and part is the supply that is about to. Do not price the Cross Island Line into a 2026 sale; the market will not pay for it until the station is visible, and the Chuan Grove launches arrive first.

What should east coast owners and buyers do with this?

We covered the two tenders that set the eastern and northern benchmarks this month in Four bids, one record and Seven bids and a $1,612 land price, and the mechanics of why land puts a floor under launch prices in Land is the floor. East Coast Road is the smallest test of that framework yet, and the cleanest.

What we are watching

Three dates. URA’s third-quarter flash estimate lands around 1 October and tells us whether private prices are still crawling. The third Chuan Grove plot joins the Reserve List in October. And at noon on 3 December the East Coast Road bids are opened, and the number that matters is not only the top bid but how many envelopes are on the table. We will update this piece when the tender closes.

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