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<\/em><\/p>\nAs head of residential services at CBRE, Linda Chern focuses on the high end of Singapore\u2019s real estate market. That often means helping clients buy and sell so-called \u201cgood class bungalows,\u201d or GCBs, which Chern describes as the \u201ccr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me\u201d of properties in the city-state. There are only 2,800 total GCBs, spread across 39 designated zones, and only Singaporeans can buy them.<\/p>\n
From the very beginning of her career, when she joined Challenger Properties in 1997, Chern has had a knack for selling ultra-luxury real estate. She won \u201cRookie of the Year\u201d out of the gate and hasn\u2019t looked back since. She later became one of 28 original agents at the local real estate firm OrangeTee, which today is a major player, and helped set up the firm\u2019s global division listing overseas properties.<\/p>\n
In her heyday, Chern closed 100 deals a year in London alone, selling properties mostly to Singaporean buyers. The firm\u2019s listings were also in Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. \u201cYou name it and I\u2019ve done it,\u201d Chern says.<\/p>\n
For a time, she spent every weekend on the 20th floor of the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore, where she assisted clients as they met with overseas agents marketing residential real estate in Europe and beyond. Chern later did stints at IP Global and Knight Frank before joining CBRE in July 2021.<\/p>\n
Even amid the pandemic, Singapore\u2019s domestic property market has been red hot. But Chern says her phone still rings constantly with requests for her to sell overseas homes to Singaporean buyers. Chern says she\u2019s considering getting into international properties again in 2022 once she\u2019s fully settled in at CBRE.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still have clients chasing after me for listings and we still have people coming into Singapore to buy,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce the travel guidelines are eased again, we expect more people to come into Singapore looking for homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amid the booming local market, Chern is also pushing to expand her 12-member team at CBRE by two or three people this year. \u201cThere\u2019s never enough,\u201d she says. \u201cI told management: We need to expand if we\u2019re going to work with overseas offices and bring in more UK properties.\u201d<\/p>\n How have sales of high-end residential properties in Singapore held up amid the pandemic?<\/strong><\/p>\n We saw 7.5 percent year-over-year growth in Q3 of 2021. It has not let up at all. People are still buying. For some projects, buyers don\u2019t even turn up\u2014they just buy them. It\u2019s normal now to buy property online after a video tour. Transactions have become very easy. You can do a Zoom signing witnessed by a lawyer, and then send the original documents over and it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n Is there any particular segment that\u2019s driving sales?<\/strong><\/p>\n Singapore transacted 80 GCBs this year alone, worth USD2 billion. Previously you\u2019d probably see less than USD1 billion a year. And in high-end homes, we\u2019ve done 137 small-landed homes this year. This is a lot more than the whole of 2018 and 2019. Locals are afraid if they don\u2019t buy they will be priced out of something.<\/p>\n Singaporeans are cash-rich. And a lot of parents feel like their children are being priced out of the market, and so they book new launches for them. We see a lot of second and third generations being helped by their parents to pay the deposit, and thereafter the child takes over the loan.<\/p>\n With higher and higher prices, are there concerns about bubbles?<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s always talk in Singapore, but then it still goes up. So far, there have been nine rounds of cooling measures since 2017. But the fact of the matter is there\u2019s a tight supply. You don\u2019t have much stock. I\u2019m running out of listings\u2014I have no first-class bungalow listings\u2014and clients are still waiting to buy.<\/p>\n What makes Singapore\u2019s real estate market so enduringly attractive?<\/strong><\/p>\n The market is stable and transparent compared to other countries. And we\u2019ve had economic expansion and household income growth. Also, there is finite land in Singapore, like I mentioned, so people find that it\u2019s attractive in terms of price growth trajectory. Singapore has one of the highest homeownership rates in the world. People want to be in Singapore. Doing business here is a lot easier than elsewhere. Our government is stable, the economy is stable, and you don\u2019t see a lot of deviation in government measures and stuff like that.<\/p>\n More: 6 exciting places to see in Rochor, Singapore<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n What are some of the hottest residential areas in Singapore right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n The embassy zone around Nassim, the Orchard area, and the CBD have always been\u2014and always will be\u2014popular. In Nassim, you have GCBs as well as high-end homes. Les Maisons sold well. The penthouse there sold for USD75 million, which is around USD6,200 per square foot. Two other units sold there for about USD35 million and USD39 million each. That\u2019s around USD5,700 to USD5,900 per square foot, which is high for an apartment in Singapore.<\/p>\n The market here is very location-centric and property-centric. So you have Les Maisons hitting that sort of range, but the property down the road might be doing USD3,000 to USD4,000 per square foot. It all depends on whether the property is new, where it is, who built it. Singapore is very unique in that sense.<\/p>\n What other developments are generating buzz?<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest one, which sold 77 percent over one weekend, was Canning Hill Piers, at Fort Canning, which is considered part of the River Valley zone. Avenir in that area also did well. Towards the city area, Midtown Modern launched by GuocoLand did well, too. In the Holland Village area, you have Leedon Green and One Holland Village\u2014there are so many launches in Singapore. On the east coast, properties like MeyerHouse and Nyon all did decently.<\/p>\n How important are foreign buyers in Singapore\u2019s luxury home market?<\/strong><\/p>\n They\u2019ve always had a huge part to play. Foreigners cannot buy land in Singapore except in the Sentosa area. But over the years, since back in the day, you would have many Indonesians and Malaysians buying properties in Singapore. Now we\u2019re increasingly seeing Chinese buyers and Americans, too. Americans pay the same stamp duties as Singaporeans for their first home under a free trade agreement.<\/p>\n More: Singapore residential real estate a goldmine for ultrarich investors<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Chinese buyers are a force in real estate markets around the region. What more can you say about their involvement in Singapore\u2019s property market?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s huge. Many people from China have become Singaporean citizens so they are flagged as local buyers. Of the 80 GCBs transacted this year, I think the Chinese who became Singaporeans bought almost half of them.<\/p>\n What are some unique challenges with foreign buyers?<\/strong><\/p>\n Their first question is always: Where should I buy? Then they want to know about schools. Of course, it\u2019s different between those who are coming here to stay and those buying as an investment. The latter, if they\u2019re looking to rent the property, will want to know what sizes most renters are looking for. In Singapore, rental use is never that great. It\u2019s three percent or less. You won\u2019t get a property that gives you a 5-6-7 percent rental return. The only good thing is the low-interest rates and the rental pool is good. The rental market is tight. Most people who are buying to rent own multiple homes and rent them out all the time. People find it\u2019s good to hold and then resell when the prices go up.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the most memorable property you\u2019ve ever sold?<\/strong><\/p>\n There are so many memorable houses I\u2019ve seen. More than any of them, I loved a piece of land that I sold in Leedon Park. It was an elevated piece of land\u2014and you must understand that land in Singapore is scarce, so to have an elevated and flat piece of land to build a nice house on is quite a rarity. A plot of land like that is truly something special.<\/p>\n The original version of this article appeared in\u00a0Issue No. 170<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0PropertyGuru Property Report Magazine<\/a>. Write to our editors at\u00a0propertyreport@propertyguru.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" She believes that attributes including strong governance and finite space will keep the luxury residential market motoring for years to come<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":27210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,97],"tags":[1358,110,2559],"class_list":["post-27207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-magazine","tag-luxury-housing","tag-singapore","tag-whos-who","news_country-singapore","news_author-bill-bredesen"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.asiapropertyawards.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/shutterstock_1958120335.jpg\")
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