A GOOD CLASS BUNGALOW on a sprawling freehold site in the Nassim area has been sold for a record S$230 million.
The property along Nassim Road was sold by a private company owned by Wing Tai Holdings chairman Cheng Wai Keung and his wife, Helen. The price works out to S$2,721 per sq ft on the land area of 84,543 sq ft. Property searches list the buyer as SG Casa Pte Ltd.
A company search showed that its principal activity is in the category of trustee, fiduciary and custody services firms. However, sources suggest that the party behind the trustee company could be Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin, who resides here.
In 2017, he snapped up the super penthouse at SC Global Developments’ Sculptura Ardmore project for S$58 million or S$5,648 psf based on the strata area of 10,269 sq ft.
Property records show the contract date for the Nassim Road sale was May 10 this year, with the transfer of the property to the buyer registered on July 4.
In absolute price terms, this deal topples the S$105.3 million paid last year by Tony Tung, the Singaporean chairman of Hong Kong-based Winson Group, for a bungalow on 42,515 sq ft of freehold land, also along Nassim Road. Winson Group is involved in oil trading, marine bunkering and oil storage and terminal facilities.
In terms of psf on land area, the latest transaction is among the highest achieved in a GCB Area.
Last year, a record was set at S$2,729.52 psf by bungalow investor George Lim when he sold a newly-built bungalow that he developed in Jervois Hill, albeit on a much smaller plot of 15,094 sq ft.
The S$41.2 million property was bought by the daughter of Alan Chong, the cash-flush founder of Wah Loon Engineering who earlier last year had sold most of his stake in the company to a subsidiary of Euronext Paris-listed infrastructure and construction giant Vinci SA.
However, property agents believe that record is likely to have been broken by British consumer electronics maker Dyson’s founder, James Dyson, with his recent purchase of a bungalow facing the Singapore Botanic Gardens. That property has a land area of about 15,100 sq ft.
The Nassim Road plot that the Chengs have sold is rectangular with a near 100-metre road frontage. It can be redeveloped into five bungalows. The existing bungalow on site has a pool, and a full-sized tennis court.
The Chengs put the property on the market in 2013 for sale by tender, with an asking price in the region of S$250-300 million.
Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB Areas are the most prestigious form of landed housing in Singapore, with strict planning conditions stipulated by the Urban Redevelopment Authority to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character.
Source: The Business Times
