SINGAPORE: Sales of Good Class Bungalows (GCB) saw a slump between January and March of this year, with only five recorded. The value of transacted GCBs also decreased by 10.6 per cent from the previous quarter, falling to S$118.4 million.
Nevertheless, GCBs have been in the news of late, with three transactions making headlines. The first occurred in late March, with the youngest child of United Overseas Bank (UOB) CEO Wee Ee Cheong, Ms Grace Wee Jingsi, buying a GCB worth S$39.5 million located on 15 Ford Avenue. Singapore Business Review (SBR) called the acquisition the top GCB deal by quantum.
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On April 22, it was reported that Ms Ma Liqian, the wife of tech billionaire Mr Forrest Li, had initiated the process of purchasing a GCB on Gallop Road for S$42.5 million.
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A few days later, it was reported that Ms Xiang Yangyang, the daughter of Xiang Guangda, the prominent figure behind Tsingshan Holding Group Co, had acquired a 2,612 square metre GCB worth S$84 million at Bin Tong Park.
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In the final quarter of 2023, there were the same number of GCBs sold. SBR quoted private real estate agency Huttons as saying that the first quarter of the year has been quiet as buyers were “unwilling to pay a high premium for a GCB,” buyers were “unwilling to pay a high premium for a GCB.”
“The expert attributed buyers’ reluctance to |uncertain economic climate and high for longer interest rates,” added SBR.
Last year, a total of 23 GCBs were sold, the smallest number since 1996. In the second half of 2023, nine GCBs worth an eye-watering S$202.2 million in total were sold.
Nevertheless, total transactions for GCBs for the whole year, $777.32 million, is only around half of the $1.37 billion that the 47 GCBs that were sold fetched altogether in 2022.
Additionally, as a reflection of higher property prices all over Singapore in general, between 2020 and 2023, the price of GCBs rose by 30 per cent, from S$1,477 per square foot to S$1,924 per square foot.
Many consider a GCB as one of, if not the hallmark of wealth and luxury in Singapore as only five per cent of the country owns landed properties. /TISG
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