Black-and-white houses exude character, but are not for faint-hearted

Singapore

DISTINCTIVE homes in lush settings for the elite few, Singapore's 500 black-and-white bungalows present a different facet of a city where everything works with clockwork efficiency and money can seemingly fix any inconvenience.

But money does not always work if you want to live in one of these colonial black-and-white houses. And they are certainly not for the faint- hearted, either.

For a housewife who moved her family from Thailand to Singapore, a black-and-white house on Malcolm Road was home for 21 years until 2015.

Dealing with termites and snakes were just some of the challenges she faced. The rent for the house rose to S$22,000 per month at the time she left, more than four times the S$5,000 she paid back in 1994.

"We had to maintain all the architecture, the structural, interior and design," she said.

That included maintaining the black-and-white design, the windows and doors, though she was allowed to install an automatic gate and a swimming pool in the 20,000 square-foot property with a built-in area of around 5,000 sq ft.

"White ants and termites are the biggest problems," said the housewife, who preferred not to be named.

"We had to pay for termite treatment by drilling deep holes and putting chemicals to resolve the problem. It worked for five years, but the problems came back," she said.

During thunderstorms, food brought from the kitchen needed to be shielded from the rain as the kitchen in her home, which is perched on a hill, was in a separate building linked to the main house by a covered walkway, a common feature of these historical residences.

These black-and-white houses are among the 1,700 residential state properties managed by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

The properties can be found across Singapore in areas including Goodwood Hill, Nassim Road, Malcolm Park, Sembawang, Alexandra, Seletar and Chip Bee Gardens.

Largely set amidst lush greenery, the homes range from black-and- white bungalows to terrace houses, semi-detached houses and apartments.

Among these, around 500 are colonial black-and-white bungalows that were mostly built between the early 1900s and before World War Two, for civil servants and military officers of the colonial government.

Residential state properties are available for rental to the public, with tenancies ranging from two to three years, said an SLA spokesman.

Last year, SLA began listing the properties on real estate portal SRX as an additional marketing channel, she added.

"The occupancy rate has generally remained around 85 per cent. As many of the properties are ageing, SLA and our managing agents undertake maintenance and repair works on a regular basis," she added.

Residents like the slice of history these homes offer, said Nicholas Mak, ERA Realty's head of research and consultancy.

"Maintenance can be tricky because some of the tiles, glass or wooden louvres are not made anymore," he said.

Maintaining the roof tiles was difficult, and particularly problematic was the gutter around the roof edge, the housewife recalled.

When it rained, water from the roof poured down and the ground became slippery and covered with algae, she said. She said she stayed for as long as she did, because "it was home".

These houses continue to be sought after, particularly by expats with big housing budgets, said Mr Mak.

The majority of the renters of black-and-white bungalows are expatriates who like the idea of colonial-style landed houses with lush greenery, particularly the bigger ones, said Christine Li, Cushman & Wakefield's head of research for Singapore & South-east Asia.

Some locals also like living in these houses with character, often using them as temporary accommodation until their new homes are ready, she added.

They tend to be more affordable vis-a-vis private bungalows, though it's hard to compare rentals of privately owned bungalows, which are often newer with the latest interior finishes and fixtures, with those of the black-and-white houses, said Mr Mak.

Typically, the rental rates of modern bungalows are higher than those of black-and-white bungalows, he said.

Said Alice Tan, Edmund Tie's senior director of research and consulting: "The bungalow rental market is niche and specialised, with few bungalows, especially those in Good Class Bungalow (GCB) areas, available for lease.

"Many of these large detached houses are owner-occupied, and typically only those owners with spare bungalows are likely to rent them out," said Ms Tan.

Mr Mak estimates there are about 2,700-2,800 GCBs in Singapore, the most prestigious landed homes in Singapore.

There have been limited GCB and bungalow rental transactions of late, and leasing activity was generally soft for 2019, due in part to the subdued economy and mismatch of expectations in rent between landlords and tenants, said Ms Tan.

"High-quality bungalows that will meet most of the requirements of deep-pocketed tenants such as high-net-worth foreign tenants are scarce in supply," she said

"The servicing period to help tenants search for a suitable bungalow for rent can be long-drawn out, and some tenants have opted for large-unit, non-landed residential developments instead."

Some people, while searching for available private bungalows to rent, may consider the black-and-white houses an additional option, said Ms Tan.

Besides expatriate families, other prospective renters for the black-and-white houses include corporates that need suitable spaces to conduct training and organise events, she said.