Six Bidders for Second Dunearn Road GLS Site — Top Bid of $533M Outpaces Pre-Tender Forecasts

A joint venture (JV) comprising property developer Wing Tai Holdings and real estate development group Metro Holdings have submitted the top bid of $533 million for the second residential government land sale (GLS) site at Dunearn Road in the Bukit Timah Turf City precinct.

The top bid translates to a land rate of $1,625 psf per plot ratio (ppr). The 205,010 sq ft site has a maximum permissible gross floor area (GFA) of 328,022 sq ft and is estimated to yield approximately 330 private residential units, as well as 5,070 sq ft of commercial space on the ground floor.

The tender attracted six bids when it closed on April 28. When the site launched for sale in December 2025, market watchers expected that it would be hotly contested.

For example, ERA Singapore had projected five to seven bidders, with bids expected to exceed $1,400 psf ppr. Meanwhile, Realion (OrangeTee & ETC) Group had forecast three to six bidders and a top land rate of $1,300 to $1,400 psf ppr.

Eventually, the bid count fell within both firms’ ranges, but the top land rate came in well above either of their initial projections.

Six bids received, nearly all submitted tender prices of above $500 million

Five of the six bids exceeded $500 million. The spread between the top and bottom bids is roughly 10%, indicating broad consensus among developers on the value of the site despite its additional development obligations.

“The tender saw strong and closely matched bids, with all six submitted within 8.9% of each other and the top two bids separated by only a 3% margin. This suggests a clear alignment among developers on the site’s value,” says Marcus Chu, CEO of ERA Singapore.

If the site is awarded to the Wing Tai-Metro JV, it would be Wing Tai’s first GLS site since it launched River Green in 2025. That 524-unit project is located at River Valley Green and the GLs plot was awarded in 2024. River Green achieved a take-up rate of over 88% when it launched for sale in August 2025, and the project set an average selling price of $3,130 psf.

The second-highest bid came from a consortium comprising Frasers Property, CSC Land Group and Sekisui House. They submitted a $517 million bid ($1,576 psf ppr).

This is the same joint venture of developers that won the first Dunearn Road site in July 2025 at $1,410 psf ppr. The site is being developed into Dunearn House, which is expected to comprise 380 units and could be launch-ready in 2H2026. Dunearn House is next to the new Dunearn Road GLS site that closed today. 

Had it not been for the $533 million bid by Wing Tai and Metro, the Frasers-led consortium could have secured them a second, adjacent land parcel and a combined inventory of over 700 units in the Turf City precinct.

A closer look at the latest Dunearn Road GLS tender indicates that the top bid of $1,625 psf ppr is 15.2% above the $1,410 psf ppr that the adjacent first site fetched. It signals a premium that some developers appear willing to pay despite the site’s more prescriptive development conditions, which include a mandatory supermarket, a childcare centre, and reduced parking provision.

The first Dunearn Road site drew nine bidders when it closed in June 2025, and the six bids here suggest participation has moderated.

 “While interest remains healthy, participation has become more selective. The upcoming GLS site at Holland Plain, which closes on 7 May, may have influenced developers to be more measured in capital deployment,” says Mohan Sandrasegeran, head of research & data analytics at SRI.

Nevertheless, demand for new private homes in the Core Central Region (CCR) – where the two Dunearn Road GLS sites are located – appears to be strong. Developers sold 1,916 new private homes in the CCR in 2025, the highest sales volume in four years.

So far, CCR demand remains healthy this year, says Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at PropNex Realty. She points to Newport Residences on Anson Road, which moved 57% of its units during its launch in January, as well as the strong take up rate at River Modern in River Valley which moved 90% of its units when it launched in March.

The Bukit Timah Turf City estate sits on the land of the former Bukit Timah Turf Club. The planning concept for the precinct in the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) draft master plan 2025 calls for 15,000 to 20,000 homes in total across public and private housing, with the transformation expected to unfold progressively over the coming decades. 

The estate is intended to draw on its equestrian past, with selected heritage assets from the old Turf Club retained and repurposed as part of its character. A new central open space in front of the Grandstands, roughly twice the size of the Padang, is planned as the civic heart of the precinct, surrounded by community facilities and amenities.

It is worth noting that the planned civic heart and the Bukit Timah-Rochor Green Corridor (BTRGC, a planned elevated linear park along the Bukit Timah Canal) have no confirmed completion dates. The Turf City MRT station on the Cross Island Line (CRL) is expected to open by 2032, but that timeline has not been officially confirmed.

Thus, buyers in the first two private residential projects here are purchasing ahead of most of the infrastructure that will eventually define the precinct. The site is also located south of the Central Catchment Nature Reserve and east of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

The western portion of the land parcel borders Good Class Bungalow (GCB) land at Swiss Club Road, which directly shapes the building height controls: the western section of the site is capped at five storeys, while the portion fronting Dunearn Road and the new access road may rise to 10 storeys. The five-storey cap on the westernmost block limits both unit count and unit type options on that side of the development.

The technical conditions for this site are more prescriptive than a typical GLS tender.

Some of the conditions include a supermarket of at least 10,764 sq ft GFA, which must remain in operation for a minimum of 10 years from the development’s Temporary Occupation Permit. The remaining 4,305 sq ft of the 15,070 sq ft commercial cap can be used for shops, restaurants, fitness centres, medical clinics, or commercial schools. Bars, pubs, massage establishments, offices, and live entertainment uses are not permitted.

The developer is also required to provide an Early Childhood Development Centre (ECDC) of at least 6,458 sq ft GFA within the development, which must also operate for a minimum of 10 years. 

The supermarket and ECDC are community-serving facilities that add practical convenience for residents, but the operating obligations also add to development costs that are typically factored into the land bid and, by extension, into eventual unit prices.

The site is within a seven-minute walk of Sixth Avenue MRT station on the Downtown Line (DTL), and sits between Sixth Avenue and King Albert Park MRT stations. King Albert Park is expected to become a DTL-CRL interchange around 2032, when the Turf City MRT station is also planned to open. The site also has access to the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) via Dunearn Road.

The Bukit Timah corridor has a concentration of sought-after schools. Methodist Girls’ School’s primary section is within 1km of the site. Henry Park Primary School, Raffles Girls’ Primary School, and Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School are within 1 to 2km. Nanyang Girls’ High School, Hwa Chong Institution, and National Junior College are also in the vicinity.

The most recent private residential launch in the immediate vicinity was Fourth Avenue Residences, which launched in 2019 and completed in 2022. “That project is experiencing healthy activity in both the resale and rental market, which may indicate some pent-up demand for the new project here,” says Justin Quek, Deputy Group CEO of Realion (OrangeTee & ETC) Group.

The buyer pool here has taken shape from the first site’s marketing: right-sizers from the landed estates along Namly, Duchess Road, Watten, and Greenwood who want to remain in the Bukit Timah corridor, families seeking proximity to the school belt, and CCR investors drawn to prime District 10 exposure. It is worth noting that buyers in this second project are pricing in a long-term precinct narrative without the support of comparables within the precinct itself.

At a land rate 15% above Dunearn House, analysts broadly expect the eventual launch price to exceed $3,000 psf. PropNex Realty projects the average selling price at above $3,000 psf, while SRI puts the range at $3,150 to $3,250 psf, broadly in line with the CCR median of $3,172 psf recorded in 1Q 2026. Newmark estimates the development could launch in 2H 2027 and average from $3,300 psf. 

The Dunearn House launch will be the first real test of buyer appetite for the precinct at these price levels, with a second adjacent project, priced 15% higher and without a launch date yet, already in the pipeline.