Tag Archives: Good Class Bunglow

Deals stay hot on bungalow fever

Good times continue to roll for the Good Class Bungalow (GCB) market, with some high-profile business personalities involved in the latest transactions. They include palm oil giant Wilmar International’s chairman and CEO, Kuok Khoon Hong, and Prima Group boss Bernard Cheng.

The latest deals have boosted the volume of GCB transactions between January and August this year to about 60 deals with a total value of around $900 million, surpassing the $830 million transacted in the whole of last year, latest figures from CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) show. The actual year-to-date numbers could be higher if caveats for some deals done in August have still not been lodged, suggest property market watchers.

CBRE’s director, luxury homes, Douglas Wong is now predicting record GCB sales totalling $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion for the whole of this year, encompassing 80-90 transactions – up from his earlier forecast of around $1.1 billion-$1.2 billion made just three weeks ago. Up to now, the highest full-year value of GCB transactions was achieved in 2006 – involving $1.23 billion across 119 deals.

Savills Singapore director of investment sales & prestige homes Steven Ming said that while the GCB market remains active, ‘buyers continue to approach purchases with measured optimism and are sensitive to price increases’. Continue reading

An elite investment gets its day in the sun

Sales of Good Class Bungalows gather steam, with some predicting healthy price rise.

The Good Class Bungalow (GCB) market has sprung to life with high-net-worth individuals stepping up their purchases.

Good Class Bunglow 13 Aug 2009

July was an especially action-filled month which saw about 20 GCB transactions worth a total of more than $300 million. To put this in perspective, the entire first quarter of this year saw GCB deals worth only $27.5 million.

The action picked up in April, when $56 million worth of GCBs were transacted. It gathered pace in May and June, each month seeing deals amounting to around $188 million. In July, the market went ballistic.

So far this year, around 50 GCB deals have been transacted, according to caveats data compiled by property consultants and information on the latest transactions obtained by BT.

The year-to-date tally of over $800 million is healthy, considering that the whole of last year saw just 51 deals worth $830 million.

GCB agents expect the sales flow to continue in coming months. CB Richard Ellis’s director, luxury homes, Douglas Wong said: ‘It’s likely that a total of 60-65 GCBs will be sold in the whole of 2009 – more than the 51 GCBs sold in 2008. The total quantum is likely to be around $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion, about 35-45 per cent higher than the quantum of $830 million in 2008.’ Continue reading