Oxley now holds the largest residential land bank

After a flurry of overseas ventures, Oxley Holdings now holds the biggest residential land bank in Singapore by the number of dwelling units at almost 4,000 units, reported Business Times.

This comes after the Singapore-listed developer acquired huge en bloc sites such as Rio Casa and Serangoon Ville via a consortium last year. It also acquired large en bloc sites Vista Park and Mayfair Gardens as well as smaller sites Apartment 8 and Toho Green.

Hong Kong-listed Chinese developer Logan Property Holdings came in second place with more than 2,000 units.

Other Chinese developers with sizeable residential land bank, following a ramping up of their exposure in Singapore last year, include Qingjian Realty, Kingsford Development and SingHaiyi Group.

Frasers Centrepoint Ltd, Allgreen and MCL Land, which have been operating within the city-state for a long time but are considered foreign due to their controlling shareholding, also went on to significantly bump up their residential land bank in 2017.

Oxley executive chairman and CEO Ching Chiat Kwong noted that his company’s average land cost is, nonetheless, relatively cheaper compared to its peers since the sites have been selectively acquired in good locations, allowing Oxley to sell more affordable apartments.

“Hence, we remain optimistic for the next two years,” he added. “Furthermore, with so many en bloc deals going on, residents will need to buy houses as well when they surrender their properties.”

In terms of value, however, City Developments Ltd (CDL) remains on top. Given the number of luxury projects on its books, CDL’s inventory has the highest gross development value at around S$4 billion, said DBS Research Group.

Market watchers expect developers to continue replenishing their land bank albeit in a more selective manner as more than 22,000 new units are forecasted to enter the market in 2018 to 2019.

“While they acknowledge their declining land banks and are cognisant of a price recovery, most are unwilling to be too aggressive on pure residential sites in view of subdued single-digit margins, their inability to differentiate the end-product unlike integrated or mixed-use projects, and higher internal hurdle rates,” said JPMorgan property analyst Brandon Lee.

This article was edited by Keshia Faculin.