Singapore Property Walkabouts

Chatsworth Park is the largest GCBA in Singapore as it encompasses everywhere from Rochalie Dr and Cable Rd to Jervois Hill and Mount Echo Park.

In focus here will be Bishopsgate, which I think was named after the area in the City of London as part of its former defensive wall. It is located near Liverpool Street Station and many of the top legal and corporate minds have their glitzy offices here. Oh, Duck & Waffle is there too.

In Singapore, Bishopsgate links Nathan Road to Jervois Road and these are all areas within the Tanglin planning zone.

The Anglican Church owns those lovely bungalows and the expansive land around it . I reckon the surrounding plots were likely owned by them before they were sold on in later years.

In Oct 2020, a 17,100 sqft GCB designed by Guz Architects here was rented out at $150k/month, smashing the prev rental market record of $85k – which were GCBs at Ewart Park and Cluny Rd.

In 2018, 2G Bishopsgate, a 15,080sqft site was sold for $27.9m ($1,849 psf) to low profile businessman Fang Yiyang. In 2015, a site here set the then-record psf for a GCB at $2,190. Compare those figures to the 2003 sale by HSBC Bank to current EnviroHub CEO Raymond Ng who purchased a 276,112 sqft plot at just $70m ($252 psf) in 2003. It was later subdivided into 16 GCBs and sold at an estimated $8m each. Raymond is also the seller of the $63m Camden Pk GCB marketed by JNA Real Estate. Despite being the CEO of EnviroHub, which has a paltry $100mil market cap, he is perhaps more famous for his property exploits, having snagged the Bishopsgate plot for a steal and developed properties such as The Arc at Draycott and owning another 69,000 sqft GCB at Yarwood Avenue.

Other famous owners at Bishopsgate are said to include a scion of now defunct Scotts Holdings, Asad Jumabhoy, who is also successful in his own right, having founded (and sold) Global Refund and Fintrax for millions. Group Managing Director of Metro Holdings the late Jopie Ong, the CEO of Golden Agri Franky Widjaja and Far East Organisation are also said to own GCBs along Bishopsgate.

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Cornwall Gardens is adjacent to 3 GCBAs – Ford Avenue, Leedon Park and Belmont Park and is the largest among the 4 as it includes homes at the start of Belmont Rd. It is most probably named after The Duchy of Cornwall, which was created in 1337 by Edward III for his son. The current Price of Wales is the 24th Duke of Cornwall. (History adapted from Robert Powell’s “Singapore Good Class Bungalow 1819-2015″ ISBN 978-981-14-0844-1)

Similar to the past few GCBAs covered here, the closest MRT is Holland Village and a Balinese inspired 99-unit project named The Cornwall sits at the start of Cornwall Gardens. Stacked Homes did a comprehensive review on the project earlier this year.

While I’ll be first to admit that I am no fan of its external facade, it was shortlisted for an award at the 2015 World Architecture Festival. It is covered in charcoal logs from Ipoh, which were chosen for their natural air purification. The atrium of the house is designed akin to a rice paddy terrace and the entire place is meant to mimic a resort – with waterfalls, koi ponds and bridges. Designed by by Chang Yong Ter, it has been featured on Straits Times, Mothership, The Peak Magazine & many more.

This GCBA is also home to the Royal Malaysia Customs Residence and it really does look like a Malaysian bungalow – leafy surroundings, tired facade and clothes left to dry on the ledge.

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Ford Avenue is said to be named after the Ford Motor Co., which built their 1st Southeast Asian motorcar assembly plant at Upper Bukit Timah in 1941. (History adapted from Robert Powell’s “Singapore Good Class Bungalow 1819-2015″ ISBN 978-981-14-0844-1)

It is located just opposite the ever popular Lor Mambong row of eateries and the nearest Ford Ave address is just a 6 min walk from Holland Village MRT. The area is set to be rejuvenated when the upcoming One Holland Village (Resi + Shops + Office) is complete.

This GCBA also sits snugly in a cluster of 9 GCBAs, with several more GCBAs in very close vicinity. Among the 9 are Oei Tiong Ham, Queen Astrid Park, Ford Avenue and Belmont Park. Just imagine what sweeping views some of the One Holland Village residents will get!

Just like other GCBAs such as Dalvey Estate, Cornwall Gardens and Belmont Park, addresses at the start of road are typically small 4-5 storey private apartments. In this case, it would be Urban Edge (~$1,565 psf) and The Ford @ Holland (~$1,945psf). Prices are not exactly indicative as units are rarely available. In fact, I struggled to find any information on the sale price of any GCBs at Ford Avenue, which is rather small to begin with.

Famous owners in this GCBA are said to include Wilmar’s billionaire co-founder Martua Sitorus and former LifeBrandz CEO and serial investor Chng Weng Wah.

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Belmont Park is said to be a corruption of a French expression meaning ‘beautiful hill’ although it may also be named after the Battle of Belmont (1899) in South Africa. (History adapted from Robert Powell’s “Singapore Good Class Bungalow 1819-2015″ ISBN 978-981-14-0844-1)

Although the GCBA is named Belmont Park, there is no road with such a name. Rather strangely, many units along Belmont Rd are classified under the Cornwall Gardens GCBA instead but i’ve included them here by virtue of their road name. The actual Belmont GCBA probably starts at ~34 Belmont Rd, which is a no through road, making this GCBA one of the more exclusive ones in this area.

The Belmont and YGK Gardens sit at the start of the Belmont Rd although they are apartments and part of the Cornwall Gardens GCBA instead. The nearest MRT for them is Holland Village, which is ~900m (12mins) away. However, most of the units featured here are situated so far in that one shouldn’t bother walking.

Units at Belmont Rd are transacted fairly often. 5 Belmont Rd, a 16,329sqft site was sold at $18.6m ($1,139psf) in a mortgagee sale. 80 Belmont Rd was involved in an unsold mortgagee sale at $39m ($1,444psf). Other transactions include 63 Belmont Rd at $39.8m ($2,653psf), 43 Belmont Rd at $33.8m ($2,243psf) although both were new builds.

Past & present owners are said to include the billionaire Kwee family of Pontiac Land, Lim Hong Lian of LTW Designworks, a low profile luxury hotel design studio responsible for the interiors of Ritz-Carlton, Shangri-La, Four Seasons, Jumeirah, Ong Kok Thai of Vanguard Interiors / Proof Living, which distributes brands such as BoConcept and Poltrona Frau and Kheng Nam Lee, a Partner at VC firm GGV Capital and former Chairman of a Temasek subsidiary.

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The tranquil Windsor Park Estate is the only GCB area located in District 20, off Upper Thomson Rd. It is adjacent to Island Club Road, which (unsurprisingly) leads to SICC. What makes this location unique is its hilly / elevated terrain and its proximity to nature. From the last photo, it is evident that the estate borders greenery. In fact, it is linked to Lower Pierce, Upper Pierce and Macritchie nature reserves.

GCB transactions here have generally been few. Consequently, many of them are in their original condition and ripe for redevelopment in the near future. However, there has been 2 transactions during the circuit breaker period in 2020. In June, a 19,986 sqft home was sold for $21.25m ($1063psf) while in April, a 21,098sqft home was sold for $21.69m ($1028psf).

It’s a peaceful and well located neighbourhood that is close to nature and an alternative to the traditional GCB estates in Districts 10, 11 and 21.

Famous previous and current owners in this GCBA are said to include former offshore and marine darling Ezra Holdings’ Lee family, Patrick Tan, Chairman of Unicorn Financial Solutions, a financial planning firm and technology entrepreneur Bill Koh.

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Besides Windsor Park Estate in D20, the only other GCBA gazetted by the 1980 URA Masterplan outside the prime districts of 10, 11 and 21 is found at Chestnut Avenue in District 23. The nearest MRT is Cashew and it is within the wider Bukit Panjang estate. It is relatively close to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and next to Chestnut Nature Park.

Being an Eastie, this is a part of Singapore I do not venture to at all. I only decided to pop by because my reservist camp is 10 mins away, which also highlights how distant this place is from the rest of Singapore. It is close to Bukit Batok and Jurong East down south and Choa Chu Kang up north. This is definitely the least accessible GCB area of the lot. It takes almost 25 mins by car to get to Raffles Place as opposed to 11 mins from my lowly non-GCBA home.

Roads within Chestnut do feel wide and congestion-free. The estate gives off a laid-back, sleepy feeling and that may be part of the estate’s appeal. There were no GCB transactions in the past 6 months.

There were 2 99-year bungalows at 7,868sqft and 5,920sqft on neighbouring Almond Crescent and Street sold in March and Jul 2020 at $3m ($381psf) and $3.2m ($540psf) respectively. Do note that these prices are a poor indication of the GCB prices along Chestnut Estate as GCBs are freehold land and have stable prices given its different classification. For example, in Aug 2019, 7 Chestnut Crescent (9,232sqft) in the GCBA was put up for auction at $9m ($975psf) while 29 Chestnut Crescent was sold for $8.8m ($1,103psf) in Q3’18.

Prominent past and present owners in this GCBA are said to include Chia Song Heng, Group President of HKSE-listed event marketing firm Pico Group and Patrick Ng, CEO of civil engineering firm Huationg Global.

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All 39 GCBAs in Singapore are equal in prestige, but some are more equal than others. This can be attributed to several factors such as convenience, exclusivity, average plot sizes etc. Amongst the areas which tend to be at the top of this desired list would undoubtedly be the Cluny Road / Park / Hill GCBA. If you need proof of that, just check out 4 Cluny Park, which starred in the movie Crazy Rich Asians as Goh Peik Lin’s house. It’s been repainted with a fresh (strange) set of colours since then but retains “that” opulent gold water fountain.

Wrapping around our first UNESCO World Heritage site, the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Cluny Rd and Cluny Park Rd connects Bukit Timah Road on one end to Napier Rd / Orchard on the other. Cluny Park and Cluny Hill are both hilly and winding while Cluny Rd and Cluny Park Rd are flat and tend to have more traffic flow. The ‘Cluny’ name could either be attributed to Capt Jacob Clunis, a blacksmith and shipwright operating out of Telok Ayer or from the Cluny Castle in Scotland (information adapted from Robert Powell’s ” Singapore Good Class Bungalow 1819-2015″ ISBN 978-981-14-0844-1)

Among the more prominent transactions the past few years, billionaire James Dyson purchased a 15,100 sqft GCB at 50 Cluny Rd (not part of the Cluny Hill GCBA) for $41m ($2,715psf) in July 2019. The seller was Jason Lee, a director of Forte Global, a developer. If you think $41mil is alot, that’s only 0.25% of Dyson’s $16.2Bn net worth.

In March 2020, a 20,369sqft GCB was sold for $40mil ($1,964) to Han Xiaoli, the co-owner of Lobb Heng Group, a leading supplier of non-ferrious metals for export to China. According to a Business Times article, this GCB was part of 12 GCBs developed in the area by Straits Steamship Land (Keppel Land today) and was sold for $8-9.5mil each in 1994. That represents a 500% gain from its original price or 19%/year over the past 26 years. Mad gainz indeed.

Prominent previous and current owners at the Cluny GCBA are said to include Glenn Tan, Deputy Chairman / Managing Director of Tan Chong Motors, Tony Chew, Chairman of Asia Resource Corporation which has diverse interests in automobile, tobacco and F&B, Neil Parekh, Head of Asia and ANZ of Tikehau Capital, an asset manager with €27.2 billion AuM and lawyer turned banker turned filmmaker Li-Anne Huang.

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Spanning 12.21ha, the Dalvey Estate GCBA could be named after the eponymous Dalvey town in the Scottish highlands. The Dalvey GCBA received quite a bit of attention in late 2018, when former Minister and first HDB Chairman Lim Kim San’s palatial 52,059 sqft home was sold for $94mil ($1,804psf) to the Taiwanese billionaire Tsai family of Cathay Life Insurance fame. It was originally built in 1967.

#1 shows late President Ong Teng Cheong’s home at 1 Dalvey Estate, an Art Deco home designed by Frank Bewer in 1927 and is part of the White House Park / Nassim conservation areas of black & white bungalows. This house is now occupied by his son, who has also taken over the running of late President Ong’s architectural firm, Ong & Ong.

#2 shows the redevelopment of the former Villa D’Este, which was acquired by KOP Ltd, developers of the Ritz Carlton Residences and Montigo Resorts in Indonesia, for $93mil on a land plot of 55,000 sqft. The new development will be called Dalvey Haus and 2 recent transactions went for $8.9mil and $9mil ($3,192-$3,228 psf) for 2,788sqft in Aug 20 and Feb 20 respectively. The start and end of Dalvey Road actually consists of several small apartments including D’Dalvey and DLV.

Dalvey GCBA is also home to members of the billionaire Widjaja family of Sinar Mas fame, who enbloc-ed the 12-apartment Cree Court for $53mil in 2009 to build their 65,416 sqft mansion. Oei Hong Leong, also of the family, stays down the road and was embroiled in a lawsuit in 2006 over the use of the driveway. Other owners here include a former Guocoland CEO and substantial shareholders of Hwa Hong, Oceanus and UMS Holdings among many others.

Credits to research by Robert Powell (Singapore Good Class Bungalow 1819-2015)

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Raffles Park GCBA is an oddball since none of the roads here bear any resemblance to its name – this GCBA includes Sunset Ave, Oriole Cres, Cassia Dr, Pine Walk, Ash Grove and a part of Linden Rd. This GCBA was named aft Sir Stamford Raffles, no surprises there.

Located adjacent to Eng Neo Ave, entry to this GCBA is via Linden Dr / Greenwood Ave (Lana Cakes!) and in very close proximity to RGPS, NYGH & NJC.

Many homes here are actually quite small and hence do not qualify as GCBs despite being a GCBA.

In Dec ’19, Poh Kay Ping, founder of a minerals & engineering co, listed 29 Cassia Dr (11,073sqft) for sale at $21.8m ($1,969psf)

..while in Dec ’18, Dr Winston Jong, CEO of EMA Global, listed his 10,484sqft house at 49 Oriole Cres for $21m ($2000psf). The architect was Aamer Taher and the house has 5 bedrooms, a 20m pool and carpark basement for 10 cars.

Other owners in this GCBA are said to include CNPLaw Partner and socialite Tan Min Li, former MP and Yeo Hiap Seng CEO Leong Horn Kee and Exec Director of Salim Group (Indomie giant) Benny Setiawan Santoso.

In 2018, there were also other txns in this GCBA:
Oriole Cres – 9,989sqft – $7.2m
Cassia Dr – 10,623sqft – $18.4m
Cassia Dr – 10,460sqft – $16.1m
Sunset Ave – 10,182sqft – $15.7m

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