SLA To Auction Off Eight Vacant Plots For Homes

Source : The Straits Times, June 27, 2008

THE Government has put a further eight small plots of vacant land on sale, some in prime districts like Ridout Road, near Peirce Road.

These infill sites have been popular with buyers who want to build their homes from scratch - but the catch is that the sites are on 99-year leases, and some of them are oddly shaped.

They are either in landed estates that have been left untouched by nearby developments, or are plots once used for public purposes, housing possibly parks, sub-stations or even septic tanks.

The plot in Ridout Road would be ideal for a good-class bungalow. These large bungalows have a minimum land area of 15,070 sq ft.

Another site is in Upper East Coast Road, near Woo Mon Chew Road in the Siglap area.

The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) will auction the eight sites at M Hotel on Aug 21.

Mr Simon Ong, the SLA's assistant chief executive of the land operations group, said: 'The appeal of such sites is that they can be customised to suit the buyers' needs.'

Mr Teo Jing Kok, the SLA's deputy director of land sales, said that normally, a family that wants to design and build a home would have to buy a piece of land along with the existing building, which they have to demolish before they can redevelop the site.

'Often, after paying so much for the building, most landowners are tempted to keep the existing building or parts of it and retrofit their dream design into the existing form.'

But with a vacant infill site, they would be able to freely customise the design of the entire home, said Mr Teo.

He added that some bidders of previous infill sites were experienced investors who said the sites made good investment properties as the land cost was lower.

'Since the upfront investment is lower, the yield of the investment is higher for such 99-year properties,' said Mr Teo.

An auction for six infill sites late last year attracted fairly brisk bidding and ended with sale prices ranging from $1.3 million to $12.1 million.