A vacant stall at Block 216 Bedok Food Centre and Market attracted a top rental bid of S$6,299 per month — the highest-ever bid for a stall at that hawker centre.
The stall is highly-coveted as the tenant is able to use the premises to sell cooked food, halal or otherwise, Indian cuisine, drinks or cut fruits.
The other bids put in were S$5,889, S$5,505, S$5,317 and S$5,288.
The winning bid was won by a person who currently is already operating a nasi lemak stall at the same hawker centre, Shin Min Daily News reported.
Overall, the top two bids for the stall were the two highest recorded for the tender by the National Environment Agency for cooked food stalls across Singapore in February 2024.
In operation for more than four decades, Block 216 Bedok Food Centre and Market has 82 cooked food stalls and 114 market stalls.
Popular hawker centre
Since records began in 2012, the popular hawker centre in Bedok has only had 13 successful tenders in the past 12 years, with rents ranging from S$850 to S$3,200 per month, but all of them were for stalls earmarked for the sale of halal or Indian food.
As a comparison, a stall in the same hawker centre that has been set aside to sell halal or Indian food received a top bid of S$2,228 in the same tender exercise.
Stall previously used to sell nasi lemak
A stallholder told Shin Min that the stall that attracted the high bids was previously used to sell Indian food, but the business, which was started before the Lunar New Year, closed after a few months.
The bid for the rental for that stall was S$1,503, according to records.
Prior to that, the stall was used by an elderly couple who sold nasi lemak, which had been doing good business for a long time.
But the husband passed away and none of their children could take over.
It is not yet clear what the new tenant is planning to use the stall for.
Rental adjusted to market rate after three years
The competitive bidding, it was reported, could be due to the potential stallholders wanting to secure a premise in their preferred location and tolerating a higher rental in the short term.
According to NEA, rental will be adjusted to the market rate as determined by an independent professional valuation at the end of a three-year period.
The valuation considers factors, such as the footfall of the hawker centre, stall size, and market conditions to assess the market rental.
Stallholders who have initially tendered a bid higher than the assessed market rate will see a downward adjustment at the end of three years, NEA said.
Similarly, stalls with initial rentals lower than the assessed market rate will see an upward adjustment at tenancy renewal.
Top photo via Google Maps