Five New Residential Sites Sold In Q1 2026 — What They Tell Us About 2027 Residential Prices

Five government land sale (GLS) sites have been awarded by the government in the first three months of 2026, and as the land bids submitted by developers climb, it foreshadows the potential new launch prices that buyers and investors may face when these projects enter the market next year.

The five GLS sites awarded in 1Q2026 comprise four residential plots and an executive condo (EC) site. Collectively, they will add approximately 2,750 new homes to the pipeline.

• Dairy Farm Walk
• Tanjong Rhu Road
• Lentor Central
• Dover Drive
• Woodlands Drive 17 (EC)

The private residential sites (excluding the EC site) drew a combined 21 bids across four tenders, and each tender attracted about five or six bidders. This level of developer participation across various areas in city-fringe and suburban locations, or Rest of Central Region (RCR) and Outside Central Region (OCR), suggests that developer appetite for development land is very much intact.

Meanwhile, the EC site at  Woodlands Drive 17 attracted three bids, a relatively lower number of bids compared to the private residential sites but enough to set a record land rate for an EC plot.

Overall, the bid prices and land rates across the private sites tell a more nuanced story.

At one end, the site at Dairy Farm Walk drew a top bid of $962 psf per plot ratio (ppr), after a consortium of developers – comprising ABR Holdings, LWH Holdings, Macly Capital, and RP Ventures (a subsidiary of Roxy Pacific Holdings) – submitted the winning bid of $447 million for the site on Jan 22.

Meanwhile, the highest bid price of $1,556 psf ppr for the GLS site at Dover Drive set a record for a residential GLS site in the RCR. The winning bid was jointly submitted by three Chinese developers – Qingjian Realty, Forsea Holdings (a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Co.), and Jianan Capital.

Based on a typical development timeline for new condo developments, the future projects will likely take about a year from the tender award to the sales launch. Prospective buyers should track these as likely new launches in 1H2027.

Here’s a breakdown of each site, what’s transacting in those areas, and what to expect when they eventually hit the market.

Woodlands Drive 17 (District 25)

This is the second EC site that the government launched on Woodlands Drive 17, and it was awarded to property developer Sim Lian Group who put in the top bid of $484 million back in January.

The price translates to $794 psf ppr, a new record land rate for an EC site in Singapore at the time. This is marginally above the $782 psf ppr set by CDL for the neighbouring Woodlands Drive 17 EC parcel, which was awarded just five months prior in August 2025.

Sim Lian beat two other bidders to win the latest EC site, and the margin between the top two bids was razor-thin. Sim Lian’s bid was just 0.4% higher than the second bid of $482.1 million from a joint venture comprising Qingjian Realty, Forsea Holdings, and Jianan Realty Investments. The third bid of $463.5 million came from a joint bid by Hong Leong Holdings and TID.

This EC site spans 290,412 sq ft with a plot ratio of 2.1 and a maximum gross floor area of 609,867 sq ft. It is expected to yield approximately 560 EC units.

It is close to Woodlands South MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line, two stops from Woodlands North station, where the Singapore terminus for the Johor-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link is slated for completion by end-2026.

Woodlands has not had a new EC launch since Northwave in 2016, and homeowners there have faced a supply drought for new homes in this housing segment for nearly a decade.

Over 2,700 four- and five-room HDB flats across Woodlands, Sembawang, and Yishun are expected to reach their Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) between 2026 and 2027, representing a pool of upgraders who have been waiting for an EC option closer to home.

That combination of pent-up demand and scarce supply is what drove developers to push land rates to a new high despite the EC segment’s inherent affordability ceiling.

Unlike private condominiums, ECs are a hybrid housing type. They are built by private developers but sold under public housing eligibility rules, with buyers subject to income ceilings and other restrictions similar to HDB flats. After a mandatory 10-year period, ECs fully privatise and can be sold on the open market without restriction.

There is one constraint worth flagging for prospective buyers: because EC selling prices are ultimately governed by what the income-capped buyer pool can absorb, developers cannot price as freely as they can for private condominiums. That ceiling puts a brake on how far land costs can be passed through to buyers.

Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank Singapore, expects the two Woodlands Drive 17 EC projects to launch at prices above $1,800 psf, with average prices between $1,900 psf and $2,000 psf.

Wong Shanting, Director and Head of Research at Newmark Singapore, similarly projects a range of $1,750 psf to $1,850 psf for both projects. For buyers whose incomes fall within the prevailing EC eligibility, those prices represent a meaningful discount to condos in the North.

The EC project on Woodlands Drive developed by Sim Lian could be launch-ready in early to mid-2027, with the CDL project likely on a similar timeline. These two upcoming EC developments will add around 980 EC homes, and contribute to another competitive year for EC buyers in 2027.

Dairy Farm Walk (District 23)

The first GLS site that closed this year was at Dairy Farm Walk in Bukit Panjang. When the tender closed on Jan 22, it attracted five bids.

It was ultimately won by a consortium comprising ABR Holdings, LWH Holdings, Macly Capital, and RP Ventures (a subsidiary of Roxy-Pacific Holdings), who came out on top with a $427 million bid, or $962 psf ppr.

The second-highest bid was submitted by a joint venture between GuocoLand and Hong Leong Holdings, who was edged out by just 0.4%, at $959 psf ppr.

The 316,937 sq ft site has a plot ratio of 1.4 – lower than the typical 1.6 to 2.1 range for most suburban residential development sites. The building height for this site is also capped at six storeys, yielding an estimated 480 units.

This is the fifth residential GLS plot released in the Dairy Farm area since 2012. The enclave sits near Hillview MRT station on the Downtown Line and is flanked by Dairy Farm Nature Park and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Previous projects here include The Skywoods, Dairy Farm Residences, The Botany at Dairy Farm, and Narra Residences, which launched at prices from $1,930 psf on Jan 31.

It is worth noting that the $962 psf ppr bid from the consortium of developers is 5.7% less than the $1,020 psf ppr that the Apex Asia/Santarli-led JC paid for the Narra Residences site in January 2025. Likewise, the latest land price is slightly below the $980 psf ppr for The Botany at Dairy Farm site in 2022.

Knight Frank estimates that launch prices for the future project at Dairy Farm Walk could start from $2,100 to $2,200 psf, meanwhile, Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at Mogul, projects a slightly more conservative range of $2,020 psf to $2,120 psf.

Both sets of price estimates position the future project broadly in line with the average selling price that Narra Residences has benchmarked so far in that enclave.

This raises a practical consideration for buyers: when this site eventually launches, likely in Q1 2027, Narra Residences will still be in its selling phase, and both projects will be competing for the same pool of buyers. That is not necessarily a dealbreaker, but it does mean pricing discipline will matter.

Why did the land bids come in cautiously here? The latest Dairy Farm Walk plot is a site that caters to a more “price-sensitive buyer segment in the OCR,” says Tay, and he adds that it could lack the mass market appeal of urban convenience compared to other GLS sites offered this year.

In general, we also expect the upcoming development will lean into the area’s greenery and proximity to green spaces and nature – a selling point previous condos there have utilised. The low-rise, green surroundings appeal to a specific profile of families who prioritise living space, quiet, and access to parks over urban intensity.

If the new condo is priced between $2,000 to $2,100 psf, it would offer an accessible entry point into a neighbourhood that has maintained stable demand across successive launches.

Tanjong Rhu Road (District 15)

This GLS tender that closed on Feb 5 produced a result that turned heads.

A joint venture between City Developments (CDL) and Woh Hup submitted the top bid of $709.3 million, or $1,455 psf ppr, for the Tanjong Rhu Road site. It set a record land rate for a GLS site in the RCR at the time – surpassing the $1,402 psf ppr for the Marina Gardens Lane GLS in 2023.

In total, the site attracted five bids, with the top and second bids separated by just 2.5% – an indication of how competitively developers viewed the site. The 131,743 sq ft plot has a plot ratio of 3.7 and is expected to yield 525 units.

The CDL-Woh Hup JV announced that they plan to develop three high-rise 26-storey residential blocks, with units oriented north-south to capture views of the Kallang Basin, Marina Bay, and the sea. As part of the tender conditions, the development will also feature an integrated early childhood development centre.

This is the first new private residential GLS site in the Tanjong Rhu area in nearly 30 years. The last development plot was awarded in November 1997, and was subsequently developed into the 437-unit Water Place condo.

Residential developments in the vicinity are at least a decade old, and the most recent significant launch nearby, Arina East Residences – a 107-unit boutique freehold project, sold only 10 units during its launch in June 2025 at an average price of $3,008 psf.

The area is centrally located and highly desirable with an appealing mix of public transport connectivity, which explains the confidence developers have for a new condo in that neighbourhood.

The site sits between Tanjong Rhu MRT and Katong Park MRT stations on the Thomson-East Coast Line. The broader area is also within the Kallang Alive Masterplan, which aims to transform the precinct into a sports and lifestyle hub with waterfront public spaces.

Opposite the site is Tanjong Rhu Riverfront II and Tanjong Rhu Parc Front, new HDB projects that are being developed which will eventually help to grow the resident population in this waterfront neighbourhood.

The expected launch price of the future condo ranges from $2,700 psf to as high as $3,100 psf.

That price gap likely reflects differing views on how buyers will weigh the premium of a new waterfront city-fringe condo against the reality that most nearby comparables, which will serve as a natural price floor for buyers’ expectations, are older projects that have fetched sub-$2,000 psf on the resale market.

For buyers, the pitch here is a new condo in a desirable waterfront enclave that has not seen significant new private housing supply in nearly three decades. The Thomson-East Coast Line connectivity, coupled with the ongoing Kallang Alive transformation and proximity to the city, makes the Tanjong Rhu site one of the more differentiated propositions among next year’s expected new project lineup.

Lentor Central (District 26)

At Lentor, record land prices were yet again broken when the Lentor Central tender closed on Mar 3. A consortium comprising GuocoLand, Hong Leong Holdings, and TID submitted the highest bid of $657.1 million, or $1,278 psf ppr, a new record for the Lentor estate.

In comparison, the very first GLS site released in Lentor – which has been developed into the Lentor Modern integrated development – was awarded to GuocoLand after its winning bid of $1,204 psf ppr in July 2021.

In general, land rates in the developing private residential precinct have moderated, with the most recently awarded site, Lentor Gardens, going for $920 psf ppr in April 2025. But this latest GLS result that closed in March is a significant step up.

GuocoLand says that it plans to build three residential towers of about 27 storeys, with up to 562 units. The site is close to Lentor MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line and the Lentor Modern mall.

This is the eighth GLS site released in the Lentor Hills estate. Including this latest parcel, GuocoLand and its joint venture partners have submitted the top bid for six of those eight sites.

The latest Lentor Central GLS site also received the most number of bids since the first Lentor parcel was awarded in 2021. The strong participation from developers this time around is based on firm foundations.

Four of the six previously launched projects in the Lentor precinct have either fully sold out or are approaching completion of their sales: Lentor Modern, Lentor Central Residences (which sold 93% at launch), Lentor Hills Residences, and Lentor Mansion.

Sub-sale transactions at Lentor Modern have been averaging around $2,351 psf in 2025 and $2,360 psf in early 2026, demonstrating sustained secondary market demand.

With a successful track record across multiple launches here, GuocoLand enters this site with a clear visibility on achievable selling prices and unit positioning than any competitor could. Historically, projects in the developing Lentor neighbourhood have drawn from two distinct upgrader pools: those coming up from Ang Mo Kio HDB estates, and those downsizing from landed homes in the Yio Chu Kang corridor.

Tay puts the Lentor Central launch price above $2,700 psf, while Mak projects a slightly lower range of $2,450 psf to $2,570 psf.

Looking ahead, the question will be whether buyers, particularly HDB upgraders, are willing to accept launch prices of $2,500 psf and above, which would represent a premium over the mid-$2,300 psf benchmarks currently seen at Lentor Modern in the sub-sale market.

Given how the earlier projects performed, that gap is bridgeable, but it will ultimately depend on the development’s design and unit sizing.

Dover Drive (District 5)

The most recent GLS tender produced the most dramatic result that we have seen in the first quarter of 2026. The tender for the site at Dover Drive was awarded to a consortium comprising Qingjian Realty, Forsea Holdings (a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Co.), and Jianan Capital, confirming their top bid of $951 million, or $1,556 psf ppr.

Six bids were received across four bidders, the most competitive bidding activity by developers among the GLS sites that closed in 1Q2026. The margin between the top and second bid was 4.4%, with the latter coming from a joint venture between Sunway MCL and CSC Land Group at $911.16 million ($1,491 psf ppr).

The awarded land rate is the second-highest ever recorded for a residential GLS site in the RCR, behind the Jiak Kim Street plot in River Valley that fetched $1,733 psf ppr in 2017. It has since been developed into Riviere.

This also surpassed the RCR record that had just been set weeks earlier by the Tanjong Rhu Road site ($1,455 psf ppr).

The 145,505 sq ft site on Dover Drive is zoned “Residential with Commercial at 1st Storey”, with a maximum permissible gross floor area of 611,099 sq ft, including 10,764 sq ft of mandatory commercial space on the first floor.

The development will comprise two high-rise residential towers with approximately 625 units, about 38,212 sq ft of commercial space at ground level, and an early childhood development centre of around 5,920 sq ft.

This site has a history worth noting. It was formerly part of the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS), encompassing Blocks 30 to 32 and 34 to 39 of the old Dover Estate, which were cleared around 2018 to 2019.

The consortium of Chinese developers has secured three residential plots in the One-North precinct. Their first parcel, acquired for $1,191 psf ppr in 2024, was launched in March 2025 as the 358-unit Bloomsbury Residences, which is 78% sold to date. The next project, Hudson Place Residences, is opposite Bloomsbury Residences and is expected to launch in 2Q2026.

Dover Drive is the first GLS site in the newly demarcated Dover-Medway neighbourhood, part of the Greater One-North transformation under the Draft Master Plan 2025. The precinct is envisioned to eventually house around 6,000 new public and private homes integrated with green spaces and community facilities, with the current private residential supply in the wider One-North area standing at around 1,711 units, and a further 345 units expected to launch in 2026.

The awarded site sits about 300m from One-North MRT station on the Circle Line, one stop from the Buona Vista MRT interchange, which connects the Circle Line and East-West Line. The Circle Line is set to be fully completed later this year with the opening of Keppel, Cantonment, and Prince Edward Road stations, further cutting travel times to the central business district.

Tay suggests the new development could see selling prices starting from $3,100 psf and averaging above $3,200 psf, depending on design and finishes. This launch could trigger a broader price lift across the Queenstown planning area since HDB upgraders from the Queenstown area, whose flats will be approaching or past their MOP, have been identified as the key buyer profile.

Mak takes a more measured view, projecting a launch price range of $2,830 psf to $2,970 psf. The divergence is less a reflection of differing market outlooks and more a consequence of the limited resale comparable data available in a precinct that is still establishing its pricing identity.

What both sets of estimates confirm is that the increase in land cost from this consortium’s earlier One-North acquisitions will likely be passed through to buyers in the form of higher selling prices.

The $1,556 psf ppr set by the Dover Drive GLS site is 31% above the $1,191 psf ppr that the same developers paid for the Bloomsbury Residences site in 2024, and that gap will ultimately be reflected in the launch price, tightening the margin for buyers hoping the precinct’s newer-entry pricing will hold.

What these five sites tell us about the primary market in 2027

Taken together, the five GLS tenders that closed in the first quarter of this year offer a snapshot of land prices and sentiment in the primary market, where developer confidence is intact but calibrated carefully to each site’s specific characteristics.

On the spread in private residential land bids from $962 psf ppr at Dairy Farm Walk to $1,556 psf ppr at Dover Drive, Tay said the variation largely reflects location-specific fundamentals and the depth of demand each site is expected to capture.

He pointed to Dover Drive and Tanjong Rhu Road as benefiting from “stronger underlying demand drivers” that include geographical proximity to employment nodes in central Singapore, MRT connectivity, and lifestyle amenities, justifying higher land bids. 

Both sites share a first-mover advantage quality that gives developers greater pricing confidence: Dover Drive is the inaugural GLS release in its newly demarcated neighbourhood, while Tanjong Rhu has not seen a new private residential launch in close to 30 years.

“Although developer confidence appears broadly intact across segments, this is being expressed in a calibrated manner, with bids closely aligned to each site’s risk-return profile… and the perception of popularity among Singapore residents with regards to the respective locations,” says Tay.

Mak’s read on the same question frames it differently but arrives at the same conclusion. He opines that developer confidence, market outlook, locational attributes, and development potential “are not mutually exclusive”, all four work in tandem to determine where bids land. 

He also pointed to the bidding pattern across the four private tenders as a signal worth noting in its own right: “Each of the four tenders drew either five or six bids, which is a remarkable close range of the number of bids in each tender. It reflects a healthy level of participation among developers”.

Looking ahead, private residential price growth may increase by 3% to 5% for 2026, underpinned by firm household balance sheets and continued interest from both owner-occupiers and investors, says Tay.

But he flags a shift in the pace of price increases in the primary market in the coming years. “The pace of price growth could pick up from moderate levels in 2026 to more elevated levels in 2027 based on the land rates achieved thus far in early 2026”.

Meanwhile, the Singapore property market has not shown any negative effect from the fallout of the US-Iran war, with most buyers and sellers expecting the conflict’s economic impact to remain contained, says Mak.

But he cautions that in the event job security and household sentiment in Singapore is affected by global uncertainty and local unemployment rises, then the current levels of healthy demand could turn tentative.