[SINGAPORE] Several big-ticket bungalow deals have been sealed recently including a few in Good Class Bungalow Areas (GCBAs).

A 999-year leasehold bungalow at Yarwood Avenue in the Rifle Range/ Dunearn roads area has changed hands for $19.5 million or $1,198 per square foot (psf) on land area of 16,278 sq ft. On site is a two-storey bungalow spruced up a couple of years ago.

The property, with a built-up area of about 9,500 sq ft, has three large bedrooms and a swimming pool. It is being sold by a Singaporean who is involved in businesses in Malaysia. She paid $15.8 million for the bungalow in May 2010. The buyers - a Singaporean couple - are understood to be planning to live in the bungalow.

Market watchers say this is the third property to be transacted since last year at this Yarwood Avenue cul de sac. A bigger bungalow on land area of 69,546 sq ft was sold in April last year for $59.5 million (or $856 psf) while another changed hands at slightly above $15.6 million or $968 psf in March 2011.

At Oriole Crescent, near Greenwood Avenue, a bungalow has fetched $18.2 million - or $1,726 psf on freehold land area of 10,546 sq ft. On site is a two-storey house said to be over 20 years old. It is leased out at a monthly rental of $18,000 until end-July 2014. RealStar Premier Group brokered both the Oriole Crescent and Yarwood deals.

Talk in the market is that an option was granted recently for a bungalow on Camden Park. The price is understood to be $25 million, or $1,659 psf on land area of 15,070 sq ft. The property, said to have been rebuilt about four years ago, features a pool and gym in addition to six bedrooms.

Last month, a seasoned bungalow investor sold his GCB at Binjai Park for $32.9 million or $1,471 psf. On the 22,360 sq ft site is a new two-storey property, completed late last year, boasting seven en-suite bedrooms. The built-up area is about 17,000 sq ft. Savills and DTZ are said to have brokered the transaction.

A stone's throw away from Farrer Road MRT Station, a small freehold bungalow at Woollerton Drive was transacted a few weeks ago at nearly $12.6 million or $1,570 psf on land area of 7,987 sq ft. It has five bedrooms.

Typically GCBs have a minimum land area of 1,400 square metres (15,069 sq ft). However, when GCB Areas were gazetted in 1980, they included some slightly smaller existing sites. These are still considered GCBs as they would be bound by the other GCB planning rules if they were to be redeveloped. For instance, such plots cannot be further sub-divided and they cannot be built more than two storeys high (plus an attic and a basement).

Outside GCB Areas, other recent bungalow deals include a two-storey property at Trevose Crescent, in the Dunearn/Whitley roads vicinity, which changed hands at $13.7 million or $1,788 psf on land area of 7,662 sq ft. The property, completed six years ago, has four bedrooms and a roof terrace. The basement houses a home theatre and pool room.

Savills Singapore director of prestige homes Samuel Eyo notes that GCB buyers these days are mostly Singaporeans seeking a property for their own occupation.

Agreeing, RealStar Premier managing director William Wong adds that buyers are more prepared to make a commitment while sellers have become more realistic on pricing. "Now at least for quite a number of GCBs in our database, pricing is quite reasonable; the price gap has narrowed compared with six months ago. I expect more transactions in the next few months."

The number of bungalow deals in GCB Areas doubled from nine in Q1 this year to 18 in Q2, with the value of transactions rising from $224 million to $359 million, according to CBRE's caveats analysis last month.

Jones Lang LaSalle will soon launch for sale by tender a bungalow at Cassia Drive - near Eng Neo Avenue/Linden Drive, in the Raffles Park GCB Area. Pricing expectation is thought to be around $16 million, or $1,445 psf on 11,073 sq ft land area. Its owner is believed to have purchased the single-storey house on site in the early 1960s for under $100,000.

JLL is also marketing via tender a freehold property on land of 10,712 sq ft at Goldhill Place, which is not in a GCB Area. On site is an old bungalow. The plot, which is zoned for two-storey mixed landed development, can be subdivided. Pricing is estimated at $1,600 psf or $17.1 million.