Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority has awarded a 99-year residential site on Orchard Boulevard to a venture of Hong Leong Holdings unit Intrepid Investments and TID Residential for S$181.86 million, setting up one of the few new condominium launches in the city's prime shopping district.

The award, announced on Wednesday, Nov. 4, went to the highest of five bids received when the tender closed on Oct. 29, the agency said. The price equals S$18,890.82 per square meter of gross floor area, or about S$1,755 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), the measure developers use to compare land costs.

For investors in Singapore developers and banks, the result is a read on how much builders are willing to pay for prime land while several earlier sites in the same district sit unlaunched. The answer this time: a firm price, but not an aggressive one.

Orchard Boulevard Bid Lands at Low End of Forecasts

The 3,438-square-meter plot can be built up to 9,627 square meters of floor area, according to URA, enough for about 110 homes, The Business Times and EdgeProp reported. It sits at the corner of Orchard Road and Tomlinson Road, a short walk from Orchard Boulevard station on the Thomson-East Coast Line.

The winning offer was 8.3% above the second-highest bid of S$167.85 million, or S$1,620 psf ppr, from a unit of Singapore-listed Global Resource Construction, according to The Business Times. The lowest bid, S$139.9 million or S$1,350 psf ppr from a group led by Macly Group and Roxy-Pacific Holdings, was 30% below the top offer, EdgeProp reported. A Wing Tai unit and a consortium including BBR and Quarz Capital Group also bid.

Analysts polled by The Business Times had expected a top bid of S$1,650 to S$1,950 psf ppr, so the result landed near the bottom of that range. Even so, PropNex's research head told EdgeProp it was the third-highest land rate for a purely residential state site in the Core Central Region since 2018. Only Peck Hay Road, sold for S$1,865 psf ppr in June 2026, and a Bukit Timah Road plot that fetched S$1,820 psf ppr in November 2025 ranked higher.

The winning price is about 8.5% above the S$1,617 psf ppr that UOL Group and Singapore Land Group paid in 2024 for the nearby plot now being developed as UpperHouse at Orchard Boulevard, according to EdgeProp. It is well below the S$2,377 psf ppr paid in 2018 for the site of Cuscaden Reserve, The Business Times noted.

Prime Supply Pipeline Weighs on Developers

The spread of bids shows developers disagreed about how much new supply the prime market can absorb. Since November 2025, five prime government sites at Bukit Timah Road, Peck Hay Road, River Valley Green (Parcel C), Holland Plain and Dunearn Road have been sold without their projects reaching the market, according to PropNex. Together they could add more than 1,700 private homes in the Core Central Region.

Tricia Song, CBRE's head of research for Singapore and Southeast Asia, told The Business Times the tender closed as some recent launches drew lukewarm responses and as the market expects higher interest rates. She still called the price one of the highest land rates for prime locations in recent years.

The project's small size helped. Consultants said the plot of about 37,000 square feet lowers the capital a developer must commit, which widened the pool of potential bidders.

Recent sales nearby give developers a pricing benchmark. UpperHouse, which launched in July 2025, has sold 249 of its 301 units, or 83%, at an average of S$3,405 psf, according to a PropNex analysis of URA data cited by The Business Times. Its 28 sales this year averaged S$3,599 psf. Mark Yip, chief executive of Huttons Asia, told EdgeProp that UpperHouse's third-quarter median of S$3,668 psf provides "key pricing support" for future projects in the area.

What the Orchard Boulevard Project Could Cost Buyers

Analysts expect the new project to launch at an average of about S$3,400 to S$3,800 psf, according to The Business Times. CBRE's Song put her estimate at S$3,450 to S$3,550 psf, while Knight Frank Singapore estimated about S$3,600 psf, EdgeProp reported.

At those levels, a 1,000-square-foot unit would cost roughly S$3.4 million to S$3.8 million before stamp duties.

Outside the prime district, demand has been stronger: the Thomson Reserve project sold about 90% of its units over its launch weekend.

URA has also awarded the Marina Gardens Lane site to EL Development at S$1,243 psf ppr after a single bid, EdgeProp reported. The next test for prime demand will come when the first of the five unlaunched Core Central Region sites reaches the market, and when URA publishes its fourth-quarter private home price data.