The S$658.89 million bid for the Bayshore Road Government Land Sales (GLS) site was not merely a high offer for an eastern Singapore plot. At S$1,388 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr), it established a new land-price benchmark for a 99-year private residential GLS site in the Outside Central Region (OCR) when the tender closed on 18 March 2025.
The result reflected the value developers placed on a rare combination: a plot beside Bayshore MRT station, the first private housing site in a planned waterfront neighbourhood, and a manageable estimated yield of about 515 homes. It did not, however, guarantee a particular launch price or investment return. Land cost is only one part of a project’s economics, and the tender also revealed a wide range of views among bidders.
The Bayshore Road tender timeline and official result
The Government first identified Bayshore Road as the precinct’s first private housing sale site in the 1H2024 GLS programme on 6 December 2023. MND said the site’s release would begin the development of the new Bayshore estate. The parcel was subsequently placed on the 2H2024 Confirmed List on 25 June 2024, with an estimated capacity of 515 homes.
URA launched the 99-year leasehold site for tender on 26 November 2024. The tender closed at noon on 18 March 2025 and attracted eight bids. On 28 March 2025, URA awarded it to Sing-Haiyi Garnet Pte. Ltd. The official URA award notice records a site area of 10,497.3 sq m, maximum permissible gross floor area of 44,089 sq m and winning price of S$658,888,998.
Those dates matter because the top offer announced at tender close was not yet an award. The decision became final only after URA evaluated the bids and issued its award on 28 March 2025. Reporting on 18 March 2025 therefore described the bidder in first place, while the official result followed ten days later.
How competitive was the $1,388 psf ppr bid?
Sing-Haiyi Garnet’s bid translated to approximately S$1,388 psf ppr. Sing Holdings submitted the second-highest offer at about S$653.53 million, or S$1,377 psf ppr. The gap was only around 0.82%, indicating that two bidders reached very similar valuations. City Developments placed the third bid at approximately S$620.8 million, or S$1,308 psf ppr.
The lowest offer was about S$485 million, or S$1,022 psf ppr. The spread between the top and bottom bids was therefore substantial. Eight participants showed broad interest, but the bid range also showed that developers differed materially on achievable selling prices, costs, risk allowances or target margins. It is more accurate to describe the tender as strongly contested than to assume every bidder endorsed the winning valuation.
At tender close, the S$1,388 psf ppr rate exceeded the previous OCR residential GLS benchmark of S$1,250 psf ppr for the Clementi Avenue 1 site tendered in November 2023. The comparison is useful as a land-market marker, although the two plots differ in location, design constraints, transport access and expected buyer pool.
Why developers valued this Bayshore site highly
Transport access is the clearest site-specific advantage. The parcel is next to Bayshore MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line. That reduces the usual uncertainty around a promised future station: Bayshore station opened on 23 June 2024, before the land tender was launched on 26 November 2024. The East Coast Parkway also provides road access, while East Coast Park is close to the precinct.
The site also offered first-mover exposure to a new neighbourhood rather than another plot in an established cluster of recent launches. MND’s 6 December 2023 GLS announcement said Bayshore was expected to deliver about 10,000 homes, roughly 30% of them private housing, together with commercial, park, sports, educational and healthcare facilities. It also identified Bayshore and Bedok South MRT stations and a planned bus interchange as key connections.
These plans can create a strong long-term residential proposition, but they unfold in stages. Buyers should distinguish facilities already operating from those that remain planned. URA’s Master Plan 2025 overview for the East, updated on 2 June 2026, lists an integrated transport hub, central park, school and transit-priority corridor for the completed neighbourhood.
What the land rate does and does not say about home prices
A psf ppr figure is the tender price divided by permissible gross floor area; it is not the future sale price per square foot of apartment area. A developer must also account for construction, professional fees, financing, marketing, taxes, common facilities, efficiency losses and a margin for risk. The eventual unit mix, specifications, market conditions and sales schedule also influence pricing.
For that reason, early forecasts made after 18 March 2025 should be treated as estimates, not official guidance. The project was subsequently marketed as Vela Bay. Readers looking for the later development stage can refer to our Vela Bay project overview; that later article should not be confused with information known at the 2025 land tender.
The S$1,388 psf ppr bid still matters because land is a major fixed input. A high entry cost can narrow the developer’s room to absorb weaker demand or higher construction and financing expenses. Equally, a strong location may support a premium if buyers value rail access, the East Coast setting and a new precinct. Neither outcome follows automatically from the tender alone.
How the bid fits the Government’s housing-supply policy
The Bayshore result should also be read against a period of elevated state land supply. On 25 June 2024, MND said the 2H2024 Confirmed List would provide 5,050 private homes and that total 2024 supply introduced through the programme would reach 11,110 units, the highest annual figure since 2013. The 2H2024 GLS release listed Bayshore Road as a 1.05ha plot with a 4.2 gross plot ratio and estimated 515 homes.
This broader supply policy tempers a simplistic scarcity argument. Bayshore was rare in its immediate location, but developers and buyers operate within an island-wide pipeline of new sites and launches. Subsequent land releases in the precinct also matter. For example, our report on the Bayshore Drive mixed-use GLS launch on 30 March 2026 shows how the neighbourhood’s supply and amenities continued to develop after the first residential tender.
A measured reading of the Bayshore benchmark
The record is significant, but its strongest message is site-specific. Two bidders were prepared to pay close to S$1,380 psf ppr for direct access to an operating MRT station and an early position in a planned waterfront precinct. At the same time, the broad bid range showed genuine disagreement over value.
For homebuyers, the tender is useful context rather than a buying signal. Compare eventual prices with completed and new projects, assess unit attributes and total quantum, and verify which precinct amenities are open at the time of purchase. For market watchers, the explicit sequence remains the key record: announcement on 6 December 2023, placement on the 2H2024 Confirmed List on 25 June 2024, tender launch on 26 November 2024, close on 18 March 2025, and award on 28 March 2025.
