Semi-detached house at 8 Bournemouth Road on the market for $11.6 mil

/ EdgeProp Singapore |

October 6, 2023 10:21 AM SGT

The semi-detached house at 8 Bournemouth Road sits on a freehold site of 5,386 sq ft and has a price tag of $11.6 million (Photo: Albert Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)

A semi-detached house at 8 Bournemouth Road in the Katong neighbourhood of East Coast has surfaced on the market after over a year.

A caveat was lodged with URA Realis in August 2022 for $11.6 million. The buyer was Sevens Group (Aquarius), a company associated with property developer Sevens Group, controlled by founder and CEO Eric Cheng. The niche property developer has made a name for itself in recent years by buying, redeveloping and selling houses in established residential neighbourhoods.

Sevens Group signed the option to purchase the property at 8 Bournemouth Road on July 25, 2022, and paid an option fee of $116,000 or 1% of the purchase price. The remaining deposit of $464,000 (4% of the purchase price) was paid when the option was exercised. The sale was scheduled for completion on Dec 31, 2022.

However, a decision was made between the buyer and seller to terminate the sale and purchase agreement. The developer withdrew the caveat from the Singapore Land Authority’s Integrated Land Information Service on June 27.

8 Bournemouth Road is, therefore, once again available for sale. The seller has decided to keep the $11.6 million price tag. Based on the land area, the price is $2,154 psf.

The site at 8 Bournemouth Road is large enough to be re-zoned into a detached house or further sub-divided into two smaller semi-detached houses (Source: EdgeProp Landlens)

Developer interest

“The absolute price is very palatable, so it still presents a good deal for any landed property developer,” says Julian Yip, managing director of Real-

Star Premier Group, which focuses on selling and marketing landed property. RealStar is one of the marketing agencies for 8 Bournemouth Road.

On the site is a double-storey house built in 1990. It has six en suite bedrooms and a built-up area of 3,800 sq ft. The freehold site spans 5,386 sq ft and has a 17.7m frontage.

Given its land size, Yip is not surprised that the site appeals to developers. “The site is within the semi-detached zone of Bournemouth Road,” he says. “It is on elevated ground, has an almost 18m frontage and can be subdivided into a pair of semi-detached houses.”

A developer buying the site would need to obtain outline planning approval from URA to subdivide and redevelop the property into a new pair of semi-detached houses. Under URA’s prevailing planning controls for landed housing, the minimum land area for a semi-detached house is 200 sq m (2,152.8 sq ft) with a minimum width of 8m.

Along Bournemouth Road, the highest psf price for a semi-detached house was achieved by 47 Bournemouth Road. Based on a caveat lodged with URA Realis, it fetched $6 million or $2,351 psf in a deal transacted in February 2022.

The semi-detached house at 47 Bournemouth was built in 2004 and sits on a smaller freehold site of 2,552 sq ft. It is a redevelopment of a former detached house that once sat on a freehold plot of 8,923 sq ft purchased for $3.55 million ($398 psf) in January 2002. Written permission was subsequently obtained for the site to be subdivided into four semi-detached houses, according to EdgeProp Inspector.

In front of Bournemouth Road is Mountbatten Road, where Sevens Group is developing The Carrara. The boutique development has six semi-detached houses stretching from 801 to 811 Mountbatten Road (odd numbers). So far, two of the semi-detached houses at The Carrara have been sold. Both houses sit on a land area of 3,014 sq ft. The property at 801 Mountbatten Road fetched $9.048 million ($3,002 psf) in November 2021, while the neighbouring 803 Mountbatten Road was sold for $9.05 million ($3,003 psf) in May 2022, based on caveats lodged.

Three of the remaining houses — 805, 807 and 809 Mountbatten Road — have six bedrooms each, with built-up areas between 5,530 and 6,400 sq ft, and occupy land areas ranging from 2,675 to 3,016 sq ft. The semi-detached houses are listed at prices from $8.644 million ($3,233 psf) to $9.366 million ($3,119 psf) ft.

The highest psf-price achieved on Bournemouth Road is $2,351 for the semi-detached house at 47 Bournemouth Road, which changed hands for $6 million in February 2022 (Source: EdgeProp Landlens)

Re-zoning as a detached house

Another group of potential buyers at 8 Bournemouth Road is owner-occupiers, notes RealStar’s Yip. These buyers are more interested in keeping the land intact and getting it re-zoned as a detached house, he says.

Read also: Properties for Sale: Yishun, Bedok and Kovan

Under URA’s planning controls, the minimum land area for a detached house is 400 sq m (4,306 sq ft) and the minimum land width is 10m.

Yip estimates that if the property were to be redeveloped into a new detached house, construction cost would be at least $3 million.

Bournemouth Road is in the prime Mountbatten area of District 15, which includes Goodman Road. “The East Coast will always have appeal, especially the Goodman Road area, where many of the old rich live,” says Yip. “Many are buying a second or third house in the neighbourhood for their next generation.”

The closest MRT station to the Mountbatten area is the upcoming Tanjong Katong MRT Station on the Thomson-East Coast Line, which is three minutes away. The MRT station is due to open in 2024.

Overall transaction volume in the landed property segment has slowed. In 3Q2023, prices slid 4.9% q-o-q, according to the latest URA data. It is a reversal of the 1.1% increase in 2Q2023. The decline broke an eight-quarter streak of landed housing price growth, says Wong Xian Yang, head of research for Singapore and Southeast Asia at Cushman & Wakefield.

RealStar’s Yip attributes the dip in transaction volume and prices to the property cooling measures in April, and macroeconomic factors, including the high interest rate environment. However, he expects buying sentiment to improve next year.

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