People are more likely to pay a higher price for constructions that integrate residential and commercial space with an MRT station. What entices people to pursue integrated developments? An integrated development, according to our consultant’s head, is a mixed-use complex with a significant residential component and a commercial component that is seamlessly connected to a transit hub and public areas.
When compared to comparable individual condos, integrated complexes frequently charge 20% to 25% more when they first launch.

According to caveats filed, two four-bedroom condominiums on the 29th and 30th floors of Midtown Modern in the Beach Road-Bugis neighborhood sold in July for new psf price highs of $4,617 psf and $4,783 psf. The two 1,808 square foot units can be combined to produce a 3,616 square foot five-bedroom duplex penthouse. By selling the 30th floor unit for $8.65 million and the 29th floor unit for $8.35 million, a total of $17 million was collected. In early July, GuocoLand’s Sky Bungalow Collection exhibited six comparable properties in Midtown Modern, including the duplex penthouse. The last penthouse, a 3,520 square foot, five-bedroom simplex, sold for $14.83 million ($4,213 per square foot) when it was first listed a year ago.

Bugis MRT Station, which serves as an interchange for the Downtown and East-West Lines, is connected to Midtown Modern by an underground passageway. The Guoco Midtown integrated project across Beach Road now includes the 558-unit Midtown Modern. The compound also has roughly 30 themed gardens and 3.8ha of groomed grounds. GuocoLand is collaborating with Hong Leong Holdings and Hong Realty to create Midtown Modern.

Guoco Midtown’s construction has also sparked neighborhood redevelopment. Shaw Tower, a commercial tower built in 1975 that houses offices and movie theaters, will be demolished in 2020. A new four-story, four-million-square-foot Grade-A office skyscraper is now under construction, including 15,700 square feet of retail and food and beverage space.

Renewal and psf price hikes

Wing Tai Holdings’ proposed 522-unit development The M is just across from Shaw Tower on Middle Road. Since the project’s inception in February 2020, 93% of the units have been sold. The highest per square foot price paid for the complex, according to a caveat filed in September 2021, was $1.862 million ($3,035 psf) for a 614 square foot, two-bedroom unit on the 19th level.

UOL Group, which paid $79.3 million for the site in December 2019, is constructing a new seven-story skyscraper at 333 North Bridge Road. It will be a continuation of Odeon Towers at UOL. The hotel, which is directly across the street from the structure, reopened in late 2019 following a two-year makeover.

South Beach is an integrated development on the other side of Shaw Tower. It is divided into two buildings, one with Grade-A office space and the other with the JW Marriott Hotel, which has 634 rooms on the first 22 levels and 190 luxury flats known as South Beach Residences on the 23rd through 45th. The complex has retail and food and beverage facilities on the first and basement levels and is connected to the Circle Line’s Esplanade MRT Station.

The 1,216 square foot, two-bedroom unit at South Beach Residences starts at $3.5 million, or $2,795 per square foot. Prices peaked at $4,748 per square foot in October 2021, when a 3,897 square foot, three-bedroom penthouse on the 42nd floor went for $18.5 million.

Duo by M+S, a joint venture between Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional’s sovereign wealth funds, is another major integrated development in the Beach Road neighborhood. The 39-story Duo Tower, built in 2017, has 568,412 square feet of Grade-A office space and houses the 342-room Andaz Hotel on the top 15 levels. All 660 apartments in the 49-story Duo Residences residential tower had been sold as of this writing.

When the 99-year leasehold Duo Residences were first introduced in November 2013, the average price per square foot was $1,969. To yet, prices for apartments sold in 2021-2022 have averaged $2,110 per square foot, according to caveats submitted.

new suburban community

Integrated developments have raised the bar for property values in the Beach Road-Bugis area with each new launch. Is it conceivable that prices in a suburban development like Lentor Hills Estate off Yio Chu Kang Road will grow similarly?

According to a recent EdgeProp Singapore customer survey, 79% of the 1,247 respondents preferred a non-Central location with strong connectivity (for example, easy access to an MRT station) to a Central location with inadequate connectivity (not within walking distance of an MRT station).

81% of those polled favored a non-Central location perched on top of a mall over a Central location not near a mall. As a result, many people choose connectedness and convenience to living in the Central Business District or elsewhere.

Will GuocoLand’s success with Guoco Midtown and Midtown Modern be repeated with the new Lentor Hills estate? GuocoLand was awarded the tender for the Government Land Sale (GLS) site in Lentor Central in July 2021, with a bid of $784.1 million, or $1,204 psf per plot ratio. (psf ppr)

The developer plans to open the 605-unit Lentor Modern in September on an 186,001-square-foot, 99-year leasehold property. A 96,000 square foot retail complex featuring a 12,000 square foot supermarket, a 10,000 square foot childcare center, services, F&B outlets, and other amenities will be built on top of three 25-story towers. The project would be connected with the Thomson-East Coast Line’s future Lentor MRT Station.

Thomson and Yio Chu Kang, two private housing estates with a high concentration of landed houses, are home to Lentor Central. Lower Peirce Reservoir Park and Thomson Nature Park are two nearby nature parks and reserves.

Only integrated development is permitted in Lentor.

In January 2022, Hong Leong Holdings, GuocoLand, and TID (a joint venture between Hong Leong Holdings and Mitsui Fudosan) secured the highest bid of $586.6 million ($1,060 per square foot per year) for the neighboring Lentor Hills Road (Parcel A), a 144,744 square foot, 99-year leasehold site. Lentor Hills Residences, a 600-unit residential development, is planned for the site.

In May of this year, the government made three more GLS sites in the Lentor region available for development: a land tract near Lentor Central, Lentor Gardens, and Lentor Hills Road (Parcel B) is being auctioned under the 1H2022 GLS program. The three GLS sites might total 1,265 residential units, according to the URA.

While the sites at Lentor Central and Lentor Hills Road (Parcel B) are on the Confirmed List, the Lentor Gardens land parcel is on the Reserve List and will not be activated until a minimum acceptable bid is met.

Because Lentor Modern appears to be the only integrated structure in the area, its completion will almost probably establish a new standard for the area.

Far Horizon Gardens, a 362-unit condo construction on Ang Mo Kio Avenue 9, and The Calrose, a 421-unit condo development on Yio Chu Kang Road, are both nearby. The Calrose is a five-story freehold skyscraper that began construction in May 2005 and was finished in 2007. In contrast, Far Horizon Gardens was constructed in 1986. So The Calrose, which opened 17 years ago, was the most recent new development in the neighborhood. In 2022, the price of a 926 square foot unit at The Calrose ranges from $1.452 million ($1,569 psf) to $2.768 million ($1,292 psf) for a 2,142 square foot penthouse unit.

According to caveats filed in July, units at Far Horizon Gardens, which has a 99-year lease dating back to 1982, have changed hands this year for prices ranging from $1.165 million ($902 psf) for a 1,292 square foot unit to $1.125 million ($977 psf) for a 1,152 square foot unit.

With the popularity of integrated developments, there is another upcoming integrated complex called The Reserve Residences on Jalan Anak Bukit. The Reserve Residences showflat is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. If the cost of integrated development is prohibitively expensive, consider Tenet EC, which is adjacent to the planned Tampines North MRT station.

Tenet showflat will be ready by Nov 2022. Both The Reserve Residences showflat and Lentor hills Residences showflat will be ready by early 2023.