Cuscaden Peak Investments selling three Nassim Rd bungalows at record S$4,500 psf

CUSCADEN Peak Investments is selling its three freehold bungalows in Nassim Road at S$4,500 per square foot (psf) on land area, The Business Times understands.

This is a record land rate for a Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area. The total price for the three properties is S$206.7 million.
The trio of bungalows are being sold individually, to three members of the same family.

Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB Areas are the most prestigious form of landed housing in Singapore – and Nassim is the ultimate GCB address.

Market watchers note that the S$4,500 psf fetched for the trio of bungalows has exceeded the S$4,005 psf record price for bungalow redevelopment land in a GCB Area. This was set in March 2021 by Nanofilm Technologies International founder Shi Xu’s wife, Jin Xiao Qun, for her purchase of an old bungalow on a 32,159 sq ft site on Nassim Road.

Cuscaden Peak Investments’ price has also surpassed the S$4,291 psf record price on a new-bungalow basis in a GCB Area, also set in 2021. This was for local technopreneur Tommy Ong’s purchase of a freehold bungalow under construction on a 14,843 sq ft plot along Cluny Hill. He paid S$63.7 million for the property.

The trio of bungalows being sold by Cuscaden Peak Investments’ wholly-owned subsidiary Times Properties are currently tenanted. The two-storey properties were completed about 24 years ago; they were renovated extensively in 2015.

In the fourth quarter of last year, the company sold a bungalow in Yarwood Avenue, in the Kilburn Estate GCB Area, for S$29.7 million. That deal was also brokered by Realstar.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has imposed strict planning conditions for GCB Areas 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 a two-storey height limit (though an attic and a basement are allowed).

GCB Areas stand out with their large plot sizes and location in lush, green surroundings. They have rarity value as there are only about 2,700 of them in Singapore.

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

Cuscaden Peak Investments was formerly known as Singapore Press Holdings before it was privatised in May 2022.

The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cuscaden Peak, a consortium comprising Hotel Properties, Mapletree Investments and CLA Real Estate Holdings.