THE daughter of Wah Loon Engineering founder Alan Chong has sold a bungalow in Jervois Hill for S$58 million to a grandson of Sinar Mas founder Eka Tjipta Widjaja.
The price works out to about S$3,843 per square foot (psf) on the freehold site area of 15,094 sq ft.
The property, in the Chatsworth Park Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area, was transacted in February. The title was transferred in May to the new owner, Fuganto Widjaja, the executive chairman of Indonesian coal producer Golden Energy and Resources. The company was delisted from the Singapore Exchange last September, following an exit offer from the controlling Widjaja family.
The seller of the bungalow, Eileen Chong, made a handsome gain. She paid S$41.2 million, or S$2,729.52 psf on land, for the bungalow in June 2018, when it was newly built.
Spanning two levels and a basement, the property features a floating sculptural staircase at the entrance hall. In addition to five bedrooms with walk-in wardrobes, there is a guest bedroom with an en-suite bathroom. The house, with a built-up area of about 12,000 sq ft, was developed by seasoned bungalow investor George Lim.
Separately, a bungalow in Cluny Hill is changing hands for S$52 million, reflecting S$3,434.50 psf on a freehold land area of 15,140.50 sq ft. The two-storey bungalow, with a basement and an attic, is said to have been completed slightly more than 10 years ago.
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The incoming buyer, Zhang Yan, is believed to be a naturalised Singapore citizen. According to a LinkedIn profile, Zhang studied at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, and is a director at PetroEast Singapore. The company, which was incorporated in 2003, is involved with the trading of crude oil and petroleum products.
Zhang co-owns PetroEast with a family member.
Steve Tay, executive director of Steve Tay Real Estate, who was uninvolved in the Cluny Hill deal, described the psf pricing as fair, given the age of the bungalow, which is in relatively good condition and located in the prime Cluny Hill GCB Area, near the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
“Currently, most owners in the GCB market are holding firm on their price expectations, while buyers generally are waiting to see how the market will evolve, given global uncertainties. A clearer direction of lower interest rates would be a catalyst for more transactions,” said Tay.
“Buying interest in the GCB market is still healthy. For the right property at the right price, buyers will be ready to make a decision,” he added.
On the leasing front, List Sotheby’s International Realty observed that GCB owners have become more realistic this year in their rental expectations, following the high-profile money laundering bust in August 2023, during which several “wealthy tenants” from Fujian in China were either arrested by the Singapore police or fled the city-state.
“Some newer, well-designed homes in GCB Areas, however, are still able to fetch high rentals of about S$100,000 per month,” said the property agency’s research director, Han Huan Mei.
One generally has to be a Singapore citizen to be allowed to buy a landed property in a GCB Area.
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. There are only around 2,700 such properties on the island. Among other things, a minimum plot size of 1,400 square metres or 15,070 sq ft is stipulated as the planning norm for newly created bungalows in GCB Areas.
Additional reporting by Zhao Yifan
