Goodman Road bungalow enters the market with a S$39 million ask

A bungalow at 75 Goodman Road is being marketed for S$39 million, with a reported 16,424 sq ft of freehold land and about 10,000 sq ft of built-up space. For District 15 buyers, the remarkable part is not simply the price: it is the chance to secure a plot far larger than the typical detached-home minimum without moving to a designated Good Class Bungalow Area.

The offer is still an asking price, not a completed transaction. The available evidence does not identify the owner, an interested buyer, an exercised option or an approved redevelopment scheme, so there is no sound basis for speculating about who is selling or buying.

The asking rate is about S$2,375 psf

Dividing S$39 million by the reported 16,424 sq ft land area produces an asking rate of roughly S$2,375 per sq ft of land. This is useful for understanding how the property is being pitched, but it is not a valuation or a District 15 sales benchmark.

At this end of the landed market, a single per-square-foot figure can also hide the practical question: how much of the value sits in the existing house, and how much sits in the buyer’s plans for the land?

A family wanting a large home may value the reported 10,000 sq ft of existing built-up space and the ability to move in without immediately undertaking a major project. A rebuild-minded buyer may instead price in demolition, professional fees, construction costs and years of planning and building work. Those are very different purchase decisions even if both buyers agree on the land rate.

Big enough for comparison, but not automatically a GCB

The reported land area converts to about 1,526 sq m. That is around 9% larger than the 1,400 sq m minimum plot size that generally applies to bungalows within Good Class Bungalow Areas, or GCBAs.

But size alone does not turn a house into a Good Class Bungalow. GCB controls apply within Singapore’s designated GCBAs, while landed homes elsewhere are assessed under the controls relevant to their location and housing form.

That distinction matters because “GCB-sized” is an informal description of physical scale, not confirmation of the property’s planning status. Buyers should not attach a GCB premium merely because the reported plot crosses the 1,400 sq m line.

The more useful comparison is with an ordinary detached-house plot outside a GCBA. URA’s published baseline for such a bungalow includes a 400 sq m minimum plot, a 10 m minimum plot width, maximum site-coverage limits and required setbacks from the road and neighbouring boundaries.

On area alone, the Goodman Road site is nearly four times that 400 sq m minimum. That helps explain its appeal as a spacious single-family compound—but it does not establish that the land can be divided into several plots.

A large plot is not guaranteed subdivision upside

Subdivision depends on more than fitting a minimum area into the total site. Each proposed plot may need sufficient width, suitable road access and compliance with setbacks and other planning requirements. Site shape, title boundaries, drainage or road reservations and the applicable land-use controls can all affect what is feasible.

In other words, dividing 1,526 sq m by 400 sq m is not a redevelopment plan. It is merely arithmetic.

Before valuing the property as a multi-home opportunity, a buyer would need the title and survey plan, accurate frontage and depth measurements, road-access details and professional planning advice. An outline or formal planning application may then be needed to establish what URA will support.

Until those checks are completed, the defensible way to view the offer is as one unusually large freehold bungalow property. Any subdivision or intensification potential should be treated as unconfirmed upside rather than included automatically in the purchase case.

The buyer pool faces more than a S$39 million price

Citizenship and existing property ownership can alter the acquisition cost sharply. IRAS currently lists Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty, or ABSD, of 20% for a Singapore citizen buying a second residential property and 30% for a third or subsequent one. A Singapore permanent resident buying a first residential property faces 5% ABSD, subject to prevailing rules and any applicable remission.

At the stated asking price, 20% would equal S$7.8 million, while 30% would equal S$11.7 million. These figures exclude Buyer’s Stamp Duty, legal fees and any rebuilding budget.

Foreign buyers face a further gate. A foreign person generally needs approval from the Singapore Land Authority’s Land Dealings Approval Unit to acquire a bungalow or detached house. SLA assesses applications individually, with published considerations including permanent-resident status and exceptional economic contribution to Singapore.

IRAS lists 60% ABSD for foreigners purchasing residential property, subject to the rules and treaty-based remissions that may apply. On S$39 million, that headline rate would amount to S$23.4 million before other acquisition costs—but approval to own the landed property remains a separate question.

For the eventual buyer, the central choice is therefore quite concrete: pay for a rare amount of established District 15 space, or pay for land whose redevelopment possibilities still need to be proven. At S$39 million, the title, planning controls and total ownership cost matter much more than an eye-catching land-rate calculation alone.