THE Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has launched the second phase of Sembawang Greenvale after auctioning all parcels in Phase One last October.

In the first phase, 12 sub-divided landed housing plots near Sembawang Beach were auctioned for a total of $37.09 million, which works out to about $285 per square foot (psf) of land on average.

Phase Two comprises 11 land parcels for a total of 90 dwellings. Most of these will be terrace houses.

Knight Frank director (research and consultancy) Nicholas Mak says new terrace houses in the area are now selling for $1.7 million to $2 million.

The median unit price for landed housing in District 27, where Sembawang is located, increased 12 per cent quarter-on-quarter in Q4 2007, he said. 'Therefore, in terms of bidding price, we expect the average land price of Greenvale Phase Two will be higher than that of Phase One.'

Mr Mak expects that terrace plots will fetch about $320-380 psf of land, and semi-detached plots about $300-350 psf of land.

Cushman and Wakefield managing director Donald Han believes demand for landed property will stay sound this year. But he also reckons current sentiment - hurt by the US sub-prime crisis - could see potential bidders for Sembawang Greenvale Phase Two discount their offers in the light of rising risks.

As such, he thinks bids could be 5-10 per cent below those received for Phase One.

Mr Han still believes there will be interest in the parcels, especially those that can yield more units, as developers will be able to 'average down' construction costs and increase profit margins.

Separately, URA said yesterday it has launched an industrial land parcel at Ubi Avenue 4/Ubi Road 2 for sale by public tender, after a developer committed to bid at least $14 million in early February.

Colliers International managing director Dennis Yeo estimated earlier that bids for the site could come in at $70-80 psf per plot ratio, translating to a breakeven cost of about $230-250 psf.

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