IOI Wins Singapore Prime Land Tender for $1.1 Billion
IOI Wins Singapore Prime Land Tender for $1.1 Billion
(Bloomberg) -- Malaysia’s IOI Properties Group Bhd. won a tender for a land parcel in Singapore’s prime business precinct for S$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion)
The bid for the 0.78-hectare plot will pave the way for the company to enter mixed-use development comprising residential, hotel and commercial elements in the Marina Bay area, according to a filing on Wednesday.
While the property market has been hit by pandemic, Singapore’s real-estate sector has revived in the second quarter amid a high vaccination rate and the reopening of the economy, the company said. Private home sales have surged more than 200% on a year-on-year basis, it added.
The city’s residential market recorded S$32.9 billion of home sales in the first half of the year, the most in more than a decade, and twice the level recorded in Manhattan over the same period. Home prices jumped by a record 4.1% in the first half as tycoons across Asia sought a safe harbor amid the pandemic.
In contrast, the activity in the commercial property space has been modest, with the recent rise in virus cases to record levels halting the return to the office. The vacancy rate for top-flight offices rose to 11.3% in the second quarter from 9.8% in the previous period, according to government data.
The company said it hopes to complete the land tender by the fourth quarter of this year 2021. Its shares, which were briefly halted pending the announcement, ended 0.8% lower at 1.21 ringgit apiece, taking the year-to-date loss to 22%.
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