By Romesh Navaratnarajah:

Some big-ticket bungalow deals took place recently on Sentosa Cove (pictured) and the Good Class Bungalow (GCB) areas of mainland Singapore.

One Singaporean bought a two-storey freehold bungalow with five bedrooms and a study at White House Park for S$24.8 million or around S$1,650 psf. RealStar Premier represented the buyer while the seller was represented by DTZ.

At Jervois Hill, a 15,095 sq ft property was sold for S$21 million by Newsman Realty. It was bought in 2010 for S$19 million from Vincent Tan Kim Yong, Group Chairman and CEO of Advanced Integrated Manufacturing Corp.  

Over in Sentosa Cove, a 99-year leasehold property was sold for S$22.2 million or around S$2,787 psf.

Samuel Eyo, Director of Prestige Homes at Savills Singapore, said that end-users have dominated the GCB market and transacted prices are reasonable.  

KH Tan, Managing Director of Newsman Realty, noted that the GCB market picked up in the first half of this year from a slowdown after the additional buyer's stamp duty (ABSD) was implemented in December last year.

“I would say prices are quite stable these days.”

He added that transactions at Sentosa Cove saw a notable decline due to the 10 percent ABSD for foreigners who are not permanent residents (PRs).

Sentosa Cove is the only place in Singapore where landed homes can be bought by non-PR foreigners subject to approval by the Land Dealings (Approval) Unit.