How much are you willing to pay for the rental of a hawker centre stall in the heart of the city?

One tenant has secured a stall, unit #01-50, at Newton Food Centre, after submitting a bid of S$6,810 per month.

This result for the Aug. 14 to 28 tender exercise was published by the National Environment Agency (NEA), which overseas hawker centres in Singapore.

The new tenant is able to sell cooked food, halal food or Indian cuisine at the stall.

Next highest bid nowhere close

The next four highest bids for that stall were S$5,047, S$4,000, S$3,500, and S$3,288.

According to Shin Min Daily News, the reasons for the high bids boiled down to improving business sentiments, office workers returning to work, tourists numbers going up, and the recent school holidays.

Moreover, the rentals charged by coffee shops have also gone up, which is a push factor that drives tenants to operate at more affordable locations, such as hawker centres.

It was also reported that utilities, cleaning, maintenance and miscellaneous fees and costs incurred by a hawker centre stallholder come up to about S$1,000 a month on top of rent.

Demand for Newton Food Centre stalls healthy

Shin Min also reported that demand for Newton Food Centre stalls have been healthy.

Even though there are 83 stalls at the food centre selling a variety of food, vacant stalls are rented out fairly quickly once they are put up on the rental market.

The stall that was rented out for S$6,810 is near the overhead bridge, Shin Min reported, indicating its proximity to an area with expected high footfall.

In the last seven years, the highest rental bid for a stall at Newton Food Centre has more than doubled.

In November 2016, the highest rent was S$2,888.

In November 2019, before the pandemic went full-blown, it was S$4,198.

The highest bid dipped to S$4,088 in July 2020, during the pandemic.

In April 2023, the highest bid was S$6,320.

The latest highest-ever bid marked a new milestone.

Tie-breaker when similar bids submitted

What happens in the event of a tie in bids submitted?

Two similar bids of S$4,019 were submitted for one hawker stall at Block 120 Bukit Merah Lane 1 in this latest tender exercise.

Shin Min reported that a tie breaker to pick one bidder involves drawing lots.

The drawing of lots is conducted by the National Environment Agency (NEA) in the presence of the bidders as witness.

In the event the bidders cannot witness the drawing of lots, third parties who are not involved in the bidding process will serve as representatives to bear witness to the process.

Top photos via Google Maps & Shin Min Daily News