Record bid for Marine Parade hawker stall: High tender prices not the norm, says Koh Poh Koon
The median successful tender price for cooked food stalls across hawker centres was about S$1,800 in 2023, said the Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment.
A stall in Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre that attracted a record bid of S$10,158 in the July 2024 tender exercise. (Photo: CNA/Koh Wan Ting)
Koh Wan Ting
09 Sep 2024 02:33PM (Updated: 09 Sep 2024 03:51PM)
SINGAPORE: High tender prices are not the norm for hawker stalls, parliament heard on Monday (Sep 9) following news of a record bid for a stall in Marine Parade.
A hawker had submitted a bid of S$10,158 (US$7,798) in July to rent a vacant stall at Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre. It was the second-highest bid for the unit, and reportedly the highest for a hawker stall in the last six years.
Among the top five bids for the Marine Parade stall, the top amount of S$$10,680 was withdrawn, while three others were all above S$8,000.
MP Yip Hon Weng (PAP-Yio Chu Kang) asked whether the bids pointed to a trend of rising hawker stall rentals and what impact this would have on the affordability of food.
In response, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon said that while "a few stalls at popular locations" have attracted high bids, such tender prices were "not the norm".
"The median successful tender price for cooked food stalls across hawker centres was about S$1,800 in 2023. About one in five cooked food stalls were also awarded at tender prices at or below S$500 in 2023," Dr Koh added.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) manages all 120 hawker centres in Singapore, comprising more than 14,000 stalls.
Dr Koh said that based on NEA's survey, on average, rental forms less than 10 per cent of the operating costs for stallholders, compared to raw materials and manpower which accounted for 56 per cent and 20 per cent of operating costs respectively in 2022.
There are measures to moderate hawker stall rents, Dr Koh said, and these include not setting a reserve rent for tenders and disallowing subletting.
Tendered rents are adjusted to the market rate determined by an independent professional valuation after the first three years of the tenancy period, he noted.
"As a result of the various measures, the median monthly rent of a non-subsidised cooked food stall across our hawker centres is about S$1,250, and it has remained at this level since 2015," said Dr Koh.
He noted that the stall that attracted the record bid in Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre had more than 40 bids, which was "quite competitive".
"Overall, this is a very popular centre as it is open for three meals throughout the day and has good footfall, especially given the recent opening of a new MRT station and additional developments that are near this centre," said Dr Koh, referring to the opening of Marine Parade MRT station just beside the hawker centre on Jun 23.
While hawkers there saw an increase in footfall, a few said the spike was temporary.
In a follow-up question, Mr Yip asked how the authorities assessed the impact of increasing hawker stall rentals on small business owners and aspiring hawkers, and what kind of support will be given to them.
Dr Koh reiterated how subletting or assigning stalls was not permitted, in order to prevent stallholders from engaging in "rent-seeking behaviour", in that they pass on the high rent to the person subletting the stall. He added that reserve rent was removed in the tender of vacant stalls since March 2012 to allow stall rentals to "reflect fully the market conditions based on what people tendered".
"Only about 4 per cent of cooked food stores in hawker centres today are paying rent at above the assessed market rent. For the remaining over 6,000 stallholders, they are paying rent no higher than the assessed market rent," said Dr Koh.
He added that for new hawker centres under the socially-conscious enterprise hawker centre management model, NEA will take into consideration tender proposes "holistically", including the total cost that hawkers will bear, before tenders are awarded to the operator.
"Thereafter, the successful tenderer is required to maintain the same rates for charges collected from stallholders throughout the tenancy term. So there's more cost certainty to many of the store operators."
