How a developer prices a launch
Every launch price is built up from costs. The land comes first: it is usually the biggest single cost, and it is fixed the day the developer wins the tender. Construction, financing, marketing and other costs go on top, then the developer's margin. A developer that paid more for its land has a bigger base to recover, so it generally has to launch at a higher price.
What Bloomsbury's developer paid, and what it bought
Bloomsbury is the original Media Circle site, awarded on 8 February 2024 for $395,288,889. The site is 10,632.1 sq m with a maximum gross floor area of 30,834 sq m, so the land cost about $1,191 per square foot of floor area, at a plot ratio of about 2.9.
Set against Hudson next door, Bloomsbury has about 39% more land but only about 9% more permitted floor area. Using the developers' home counts, that is roughly 29.7 sq m of site per home against 23.3 sq m, about 27% more. It does not mean 27% more garden or a bigger apartment, but it is a real difference in how intensively the site is built.
Against the land sales after it
Dover Drive, awarded in March 2026, sold at about $1,556 psf ppr, about 31% more than Bloomsbury's land: about $365 more for every square foot the developer may build.
Dover is not the only one. Most land sold since Bloomsbury's has gone for more, across Singapore: Bedok Rise (Bedok, 2 Dec 2025) about $1,330; Lentor Central (Ang Mo Kio, 6 Mar 2026) about $1,278; Dover Drive (Queenstown, 31 Mar 2026) about $1,556; Kallang Close (Kallang, 10 Apr 2026) about $1,415; Dunearn Road (Bukit Timah, 4 May 2026) about $1,625; New Upper Changi Road (Bedok, 4 Sep 2026) about $1,537 psf ppr. These are different locations and sites, so they are not like-for-like with Bloomsbury; they show where land has been selling since.
| Site | Planning area | Award date | Land rate, psf ppr | Against Bloomsbury's |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bloomsbury (Media Circle) * | Queenstown | 8 Feb 2024 | about $1,191 | This page's site |
| Margaret Drive | Queenstown | 7 Aug 2024 | about $1,154 | 3% less |
| Hudson Place (Media Circle Parcel A) * | Queenstown | 13 Mar 2025 | about $1,037 | 13% less |
| Bayshore Road | Bedok | 28 Mar 2025 | about $1,388 | 17% more |
| Lentor Gardens | Ang Mo Kio | 9 Apr 2025 | about $920 | 23% less |
| Bedok Rise | Bedok | 2 Dec 2025 | about $1,330 | 12% more |
| Dairy Farm Walk | Bukit Panjang | 28 Jan 2026 | about $962 | 19% less |
| Lentor Central | Ang Mo Kio | 6 Mar 2026 | about $1,278 | 7% more |
| Dover Drive * | Queenstown | 31 Mar 2026 | about $1,556 | 31% more |
| Kallang Close | Kallang | 10 Apr 2026 | about $1,415 | 19% more |
| Dunearn Road * | Bukit Timah | 4 May 2026 | about $1,625 | 36% more |
| New Upper Changi Road | Bedok | 4 Sep 2026 | about $1,537 | 29% more |
Source: Past Sales Sites (Government Land Sales awards workbook) (Urban Redevelopment Authority), Awards to 18 Sep 2026; workbook read 22 Oct 2026. Extracted 22 Oct 2026.
Reference points from URA's record across different locations, sizes and conditions: not interchangeable sites, not a matched set, and not a price for any home. * Residential with commercial on the first storey; the rate is blended across the site. Dates are award dates. Margaret Drive, Hudson's site next door, Lentor Gardens and Dairy Farm Walk are later awards that cost less than Bloomsbury's.
Not every later sale cost more. Hudson's site next door went for about $1,037 psf ppr in March 2025, about 13% below Bloomsbury's. Of the 38 residential URA land sales after Bloomsbury's, 12 cost less, 9 of them outside the central region; most cost more, Dover Drive included.
These are reference points, not proof of a trend on their own. The full record of 47 URA awards since 2023, including the later ones that cost less, is in Rising land costs: what today's buyers can learn about tomorrow's launches.
What this means for the price you pay
The projects launching on the later, dearer sites have a higher land cost to recover. Bloomsbury's developer bought before most of that rise, which gives the project a cushion. Hudson next door bought cheaper still, so compare the two homes you would actually choose on price and layout.
Test it on the family home
Bloomsbury's case is the family home on the larger site. On 22 Oct 2026 the developer's list showed a 1,421 sq ft D3 four-bedroom suite with a flexi area and a private lift at $3,597,000, about $2,531 psf, and a 1,345 sq ft four-bedroom penthouse at $3,605,000.
The fair comparison is with the family homes you would really consider. Next door, a 1,432 sq ft four-bedroom suite on Hudson's list that day was $3,534,000, $63,000 less on a different floor and plan. Bloomsbury needs a specific reason to win that comparison for your household: the site, the layout, the outlook from the stack, or the earlier move-in.
Ownership and timing
The developer's sales kit proposes monthly contributions of $520 to $570 for the D3 and PH1 types and lists fewer residential car park lots than homes, so settle parking early if you run more than one car. The brochure and the developer's website give expected vacant possession as 7 February 2029; the TOP estimate shown to agents in PropNex's Project Suite is earlier, November 2028. They are different milestones: plan a sale or a tenancy end around the developer's latest confirmation.
Upgrading from a home you own? The timing of the sale matters as much as the suite: selling first or buying first, and the stage payments in the new launch purchase calculator.
