Trustee sale of Good Class Bungalow on Lornie Road for $27 mil
AGood Class Bungalow (GCB) sitting on the corner of Lornie Road and Joan Road is on the market for sale. The existing 9-bedroom house on the site was built in 1970 and houses a multi-generational family. A kidney-shaped swimming pool on the property dates back even earlier, to the 1950s.
In the garden are fruit trees that have been there for many years — rambutan, guava, chiku and even sugarcane. “The land here seems to be very fertile,” says Bruce Lye, co-founder and managing partner of SRI, the exclusive marketing agent for the GCB, which has been put on the market for sale by expressions of interest.
The property has a land area of 25,270 sq ft with a prominent dual frontage of more than 50m. Access to the property is currently from Lornie Road, but there is an option to change the address to Joan Road, which is subject to approval from the authorities.
“A new house could be built on the site, with its orientation towards Joan Road,” says Lye. “It will have a nice frontage of more than 55m.” The new house will also face the stretch of garden centres and plant nurseries along Thomson Road, and hence, enjoy views of greenery, he adds.
The property on Lornie Road is located within the GCB area of Caldecott Hill Estate in prime District 11. It is a trustee sale, with an indicative price of $27 million ($1,068 psf).
There have been a number of sizeable GCBs transactions in recent months, such as the sale of the 101,550 sq ft, freehold plot at Garlick Avenue by the Thye Hong family for over $90 million; the sale of the 44,435 sq ft, freehold site at Leedon Park that fetched $73 million; and a 35,290 sq ft, GCB site at White House Park that went for close to $60 million.
“The sales of such large GCB parcels have a knock-on effect on the rest of the bungalow market, as the beneficiaries of these sales in turn, shop for smaller bungalows,” says Lye. Hence, it is not just the traditional prime districts, but established private housing estates in the city fringe and suburban areas that have benefited too.
Lye recently sold five bungalows in the past month. They include the sale of two bungalows in the East Coast, an old pre-war bungalow in Pasir Panjang that went for $12.8 million and a detached house in the Trevose area that was sold for $15.25 million.
Hence, it’s not just the GCBs that are benefiting, but the rest of the landed property market.
“Across the board, people are seeing the value in buying landed property,” he adds. “A lot of people are spending more time at home since the Covid-19 ‘circuit breaker’, so they appreciate having more space.” He attributes the increase in property purchase to low interest rates and a high level of liquidity in the market too.
A number of GCBs in Caldecott Hill Estate are on the market for sale too. Along Olive Road, a GCB sitting on a land area of 23,423 sq ft with a built-up area of 8,500 sq ft, is for sale at $35 million ($1,494 psf). A few doors away, another GCB along Olive Road sitting on a land area of just over 17,000 sq ft, with a 12,000 sq ft built-up area is on the market for $32 million ($1,879 psf). The higher price psf is because the house is relatively new. Meanwhile, another bungalow on Lornie Road, sitting on a land area of 15,009 sq ft, with a builtup of about 8,000 sq ft, is tagged at $23 million ($1,532 psf).
Caldecott Hill Estate is at an interesting juxtaposition: it is near MacRitchie Reservoir Park, close to the mature Thomson Road neighbourhood, with its numerous F&B establishments — from local eateries to hipster cafés and Thomson Plaza shopping mall, according to SRI. It is also close to the Caldecott MRT station, which will soon become an interchange for both the Circle Line and Thomson East Coast Line.
A positive catalyst for the Caldecott Hill Estate is the redevelopment of the former MediaCorp broadcast station at Andrew Road, says Sakal Real Estate co-founder and managing partner Steven Ming. It sits on a land area of more than 752,000 sq ft and could potentially be redeveloped into bungalow sites of about 10,000 sq ft each. These bungalows will be 99-year leasehold, similar to those at Sentosa Cove.
“Once the whole area is rejuvenated and the new bungalows are built, it will be a newer streetscape,” says Ming. “Buyers of GCBs in the area will also benefit from the renewal in the area.” Incidentally, Ming is marketing a GCB on Andrew Road, sitting on a land area of 26,485 sq ft, with a built-up area of 5,000 sq ft, has a price tag of $26 million ($981 psf). He has seen an increase in appetite for large GCB sites for redevelopment too.
SRI’s Lye reckons the shift in preference for larger GCB sites could partly be attributed to the URA change in guidelines regarding site coverage of the house — which was increased from 35% to 40% in July 2019. “Those who want bigger homes will opt for bigger land sites, hence, the increase in demand of GCB sites of more than 20,000 sq ft,” he says.
The bungalow at Lornie Road that Lye is marketing has been in the hands of the existing family for 50 years and across three generations, he notes. The GCB is for sale by expressions of interest which will close on Nov 11 at 3pm.
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