Activity in good class bungalow market picks up
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Published May 3, 2011
Activity in good class bungalow market picks up
At least 4 GCB deals done in April with prices ranging from $30m to $60m
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
(SINGAPORE) After easing in the first quarter of this year, activity in the Good Class Bungalow (GCB) market seems to have picked up in April, at least for some agents.
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20 Victoria Park Road: The property on an elevated site has been put on the market with a target price of $60m or $1,807 psf on land area
URA Realis caveats show two deals done in April for a total of $65 million. They comprise a bungalow at Astrid Hill with 22,012 sq ft land area sold for $35 million and a Belmont Road property on 32,626 sq ft of land which fetched $30 million.
RealStar Premier Property managing director William Wong told BT his firm brokered two GCB transactions last month totalling $99 million. The properties are in Ewart Park and the Yarwood area.
The Ewart Park bungalow sold for nearly $38.6 million or $1,150 per square foot on land area. The Yarwood transaction was for close to $60 million or about $860 psf of land area. Both properties are freehold.
According to a recent analysis by CB Richard Ellis of URA Realis caveats data, in the first quarter of this year, some 16 GCB properties totalling about $338 million changed hands - down from 30 deals amounting to $623 million in Q4 last year, and 31 transactions worth $516 million in Q1 2010.
Still, the average per square foot price on land area in Q1 2011 showed no sign of weakening. It has instead crept up 3.4 per cent from $1,218 psf in Q4 last year to $1,260 psf in Q1.
RealStar's Mr Wong predicts price upside of about 10 per cent for the whole of this year.
In addition to the $99 million of GCB deals his firm brokered in April, RealStar also handled the sale of about $110 million of other landed homes (mostly bungalows in districts 10, 11 and 21, as well as the eastern districts 15 and 16), taking the total value of landed homes brokered by the firm last month past the $200 million mark. This is double the tally for April last year, of just above $100 million.
Meanwhile, DTZ is launching for sale by tender 20 Victoria Park Road. The 'target price' for the 999-year leasehold property is $60 million, which reflects $1,870 psf on the land area of 32,077 sq ft. On the site are two bungalows and an outhouse.
The owner, believed to be a seasoned investor in the Singapore bungalow market, is said to have bought the property in 2007 for $29.5 million and attempted to sell it in 2009 for about $38.7 million, but that deal was aborted.
20 Victoria Park Road is on an elevated site above road access level and has unobstructed views of the surrounding location.
One of the two bungalows on the site is a 'modern design' property with two storeys and an attic, while the other is a two-storey 'black and white styled' bungalow which is about 30 years old, says DTZ. The property has a swimming pool. The tender for 20 Victoria Park Road closes on May 27.
