Part 2 of 7: A Tale of Two Cities: Why Land Bids Keep Rising While Housing Supply Surges
The Verdict 1. The Two Markets 2. What The Bids Say 3. The En Bloc Question 4. The Downgrader Rule 5. If You're Buying 6. If You're a Landlord 7. If You're a Tenant

A single GLS tender result is just one number. Read on its own, $1,556 psf ppr for Dover Drive tells you almost nothing about where the market is headed. Line up eight of them, in the order they actually closed, and the pattern stops being subtle.

Direct answer: Eight GLS tenders closed between 4 September 2025 and 1 September 2026. OCR land bids rose from $980 psf ppr (Chencharu Close) to $1,537 psf ppr (New Upper Changi Road), up 57% in exactly 12 months. The RCR set its own record along the way at $1,556 psf ppr (Dover Drive, 26 March 2026). Only one tender in the sequence, Dairy Farm Walk, came in below the previous pace, and it's a low-density D23 site that isn't really comparable with the others.

The Sequence, In Order

$900$1,100$1,300$1,500 $980Chencharu Close4 Sep '25$1,179Hougang Central27 Nov '25$1,330Bedok Rise2 Dec '25$962Dairy Farm Walk22 Jan '26$1,556NEW RECORDDover Drive26 Mar '26$1,415Kallang Close7 Apr '26$1,323Bayshore Drive15 Jul '26$1,537NEW RECORDNew Upper Changi Rd1 Sep '26 OCR RCR D23 low-density (not directly comparable)

Sources: URA tender records, 99.co, EdgeProp, The Edge Singapore, CBRE Singapore commentary, Sep 2025 to Sep 2026.

Reading the One Dip in the Sequence

Move 2: What The Market Isn't Telling You Dairy Farm Walk Isn't a Counter-Trend+ Read → − Collapse

Dairy Farm Walk's $962 psf ppr, closed on 22 January 2026, is the only result in the sequence lower than the one before. It's tempting to read that as the market cooling. It isn't. It's a different kind of site.

Dairy Farm Walk is a low-density plot in District 23, closer to landed housing than to the big mixed-use sites either side of it in the sequence. Low-density land has a lower psf ppr ceiling whatever the mood in the corridor, because the developer spreads land cost over far fewer saleable square feet. Comparing it directly with Hougang Central or Bayshore Drive is like comparing a landed home's psf with a high-rise condo's: the products are too different for the number to mean what it seems to.

The two RCR data points (Dover Drive, Kallang Close) and the three most recent OCR points (Bedok Rise, Bayshore Drive, New Upper Changi Road) are the cleaner read on where broad-based sentiment sits, and every one of them came in above the prior comparable-region result.

What CBRE's Aggregate Numbers Confirm

Individual tenders can be noisy: one aggressive bidder, an unusually good location, or a premium for an MRT link. CBRE's aggregate research smooths that out. Comparing 2025 to 2026 with 2023 to 2024, CBRE puts average OCR land prices up 19%, the RCR up 18.8% and prime and CCR-fringe sites up 13.1% (CBRE Singapore, 2026). That isn't one hot site skewing the picture. It's a broad repricing across every tier, and it matches the tender sequence almost exactly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the single most important number in this data?+−
The 57% rise in OCR land bids over exactly 12 months, from Chencharu Close's $980 psf ppr on 4 September 2025 to New Upper Changi Road's $1,537 psf ppr on 1 September 2026. It's the cleanest like-for-like comparison in the sequence: same region, one year apart, both at or near a benchmark.
Why did Dairy Farm Walk come in lower than the trend?+−
It's a low-density District 23 site, structurally different from the mega mixed-use OCR and RCR sites around it in the sequence. Lower density spreads land cost over fewer saleable square feet, which caps the psf ppr regardless of broader market sentiment.
Are these numbers cherry-picked to make a point?+−
No. They're every major GLS tender that closed in the twelve months to September 2026, in the order they closed. The only judgment call is treating Dairy Farm Walk as a structural outlier rather than part of the trend, and the data supports that.
Does a rising land bid guarantee a higher launch price?+−
Not automatically, but land makes up a big share of a launch's final psf, and developers have historically aimed for roughly 2x to 2.3x land cost on comparable sites, so a higher land bid usually does mean a higher launch price 18 to 24 months later.
Where can I see how this affects a specific project I'm considering?+−
Parts 5 through 7 of this series break down what the trajectory means for buyers, landlords and tenants specifically. For a read on one named project, WhatsApp James directly.
Part 2 of 7: A Tale of Two Cities: Why Land Bids Keep Rising While Housing Supply Surges
The Verdict 1. The Two Markets 2. What The Bids Say 3. The En Bloc Question 4. The Downgrader Rule 5. If You're Buying 6. If You're a Landlord 7. If You're a Tenant

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Sources + Show all 2 →
1. URA tender records; 99.co, EdgeProp, The Edge Singapore GLS coverage, Sep 2025 to Sep 2026
2. CBRE Singapore, GLS land rate commentary (OCR/RCR/Prime averages, 2025 to 2026 vs 2023 to 2024)

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Property investments involve risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should seek independent advice from licensed professionals before making any property or financial decision. James Ong is a licensed real estate salesperson (CEA Reg No. R008385F) with PropNex Realty Pte Ltd and is not a licensed financial adviser.

James Ong | CEA Reg No. R008385F | PropNex Realty Pte Ltd