A grandson of the late property magnate and hotelier Wee Thiam Siew is buying an old freehold bungalow along Olive Road for nearly S$50.24 million.

The price paid by Wee Hian Nam for the property, which is part of the Caldecott Hill Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area, works out to S$1,800 per square foot on the land area of 27,909 sq ft.

SRI acted for the buyer, who is one of the beneficiaries of the S$815 million sale in November last year of 2 freehold residential development land parcels along Thiam Siew Avenue in the Tanjong Katong area, to Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments.

Wee Hian Nam is buying the Olive Road bungalow from an elderly couple who live in it.

The 2-storey house ripe for redevelopment is opposite the bungalow which gaming chair firm Secretlab’s co-founder Ian Ang acquired in June last year for S$36 million or S$1,537 psf on the 23,424 sq ft land area.

Newsman Realty managing director KH Tan described the S$1,800 psf price in the latest deal as “not bad” for the seller. He said the latest plot is better than the one bought by Secretlab’s Ang as it is on “elevated, upward-sloping land above the road level”. It also has a wider road frontage, Tan added.

“The S$1,800 psf also takes into account that GCB prices have generally appreciated between last year and now, despite the mid-December property cooling measures.

“This is due to the scarcity of choice GCB plots available for sale after the strong buying momentum last year. There are still many buyers who are looking for GCB properties,” said Tan.

List Sotheby’s International Reality’s analysis of URA Realis caveats data downloaded on April 26 (with the latest transaction dated April 14) shows 19 deals totalling S$511 million in GCB Areas so far this year. For the whole of last year, the tally was 90 deals totalling a record S$2.57 billion; this was higher than the 46 transactions amounting to S$1.09 billion in 2020.

Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB Areas are the most prestigious form of landed housing in Singapore, with strict planning conditions to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character.

Among other things, a minimum plot size of 1,400 square metres (about 15,070 sq ft) is stipulated as the planning norm for newly-created bungalows in GCB Areas.

Another restriction is that of a 2-storey height limit (though an attic and basements are allowed).

Stipulations on site-coverage control (total covered area as a percentage of the net site area) and setback from the sides and rear for a bungalow in a GCB Area are also stricter than those for a bungalow outside a GCB Area.

One generally has to be a Singapore citizen to be allowed to buy a landed property in a GCB Area.

Credit: Business Times