Overview
A government land tender at Berlayar Drive closed on 4 August 2026 with just one bid. That single bid still set a new record price for a pure-residential plot in the Rest of Central Region (RCR). The low turnout may reflect the site’s specific constraints rather than a wider pullback from developers. For investors and nearby HDB upgraders, the record price is the signal worth tracking, since it points to launch prices well above what’s currently trading in the area.
A record price, from a tender with only one bidder
A joint venture between Hong Leong Holdings and GuocoLand submitted a bid of $576.78 million, working out to $1,515 psf ppr. The site spans about 271,932 sq ft on a 99-year lease, carries a plot ratio of 1.4 and a five-storey height cap, and could fit roughly 415 homes.
Analysts had forecast $1,100–$1,450 psf ppr, so the bid came in well above that range. It also topped the $1,455 psf ppr paid at Tanjong Rhu Road in February 2026, making it the new benchmark for a pure-residential plot in the RCR. Two other recent GLS sites, Dover Drive and Jiak Kim Street, cleared higher rates still, but both include ground-floor commercial space — a different product type that tends to command a different land rate. Among plots that are purely residential, Berlayar Drive is now the one to beat.
Why did almost nobody else bid?
Several factors likely kept other developers away. A related site along Berlayar Close is due to launch in December 2026 and sits closer to Telok Blangah MRT Station, so some developers may have chosen to wait for that plot instead. The site’s own numbers didn’t help either: a 1.4 plot ratio and five-storey height cap limit the saleable area, and the immediate surroundings still lack established schools and amenities.
This is also not a one-off. Berlayar Drive is the second GLS site this year to draw exactly one bid — in May, Sim Lian Group was the sole bidder for a Holland Plain site at $1,491 psf ppr. For Hong Leong and GuocoLand, being the only bidder is a familiar pattern: they were the sole bidders for Upper Thomson Road in 2024, which became Springleaf Residence and is now about 98% sold at an average $2,178 psf, and for the site that became Lentor Mansion, fully sold by November 2025. Not every sole bid works out, though — URA rejected their solo $984 psf ppr bid for a Marina Gardens Crescent site in 2024 as too low.
What this means for investors and HDB upgraders
Berlayar Drive is the second plot released in a new estate built on the former Keppel Club golf course, planned to eventually hold about 10,000 homes, roughly 3,000 of them private. It sits within the Greater Southern Waterfront transformation, with Telok Blangah MRT about 450 metres away.
At $1,515 psf ppr, analysts are pencilling in launch prices averaging $2,800–$3,100 psf — treat that as an estimate, not a confirmed launch price, since the project may only launch two to four years after the GLS award. Nearby resale in the wider Keppel Bay cluster has ranged from about $1,750 psf to $2,500 psf this year, so a launch price of $2,800 psf would be a meaningful step up from current pricing levels.
A single bid isn’t automatically a bad sign. Hong Leong and GuocoLand have been sole bidders before and gone on to sell out projects at a premium, but URA has also rejected one of their solo bids as too low. Track record matters here, not just the headline number.
