21-9-2023 (SINGAPORE) A two-storey Good Class Bungalow (GCB) located at 20 Third Avenue in Bukit Timah, owned by the founder of Hin Leong Trading, Lim Oon Kuin, also known as O.K. Lim, is now available for sale through a public tender with a price tag of S$30 million. This is the second property being sold among several Singapore properties that have been frozen by the High Court as part of efforts to recover US$3.5 billion in debt from the collapsed oil trading firm.
The Third Avenue GCB is jointly owned by Lim and his son, Evan Lim Chee Meng, and the 50% share owned by Lim will be subject to the court order. The property, situated in the prime First/Third Avenue GCB area, has a guide price of S$30 million, equivalent to approximately S$2,058 per square foot, according to the marketing agent Knight Frank. The tender for the property will close on October 16.
Spanning a freehold land area of 14,576 square feet, the GCB offers a total gross floor area of around 10,000 square feet. In addition to this property, two single-storey GCBs located at 52 and 54 Belmont Road have been put up for sale through an expression of interest, with a combined price of S$87.68 million, as revealed by marketing agent JLL.
No. 52 Belmont, with a land area of 24,178 square feet, is being marketed at S$50.78 million, while No. 54 Belmont, with a land area of 17,563 square feet, has an asking price of S$36.9 million, according to Tan Hong Boon, JLL’s executive director of capital markets. The land rate for both properties amounts to approximately S$2,100 per square foot.
Real estate experts have commented on the pricing, stating that S$2,100 per square foot is deemed fair and reasonable for old houses that are likely to be rebuilt by buyers. This rate is likely to attract interested buyers, especially considering that many sellers in the GCB areas off Bukit Timah Road and Holland Road are asking for S$2,500 per square foot or higher, as highlighted by Steve Tay, executive director of Steve Tay Real Estate.
Mary Sai, executive director of capital markets at Knight Frank Singapore, expressed expectations of strong interest in the 20 Third Avenue listing due to the scarcity of prime landed homes and the high demand from foreign ultra-high-net-worth families.
It is worth noting that Lim had previously sold another GCB located at 5 Second Avenue to the family of Tan Yeow Khoon, the former executive chairman of delisted logistics company Cogent Holdings, for S$33.39 million. The most recent transaction in the area involved a Third Avenue GCB purchased by Tan Min-Liang, the co-founder and CEO of gaming company Razer, for S$52.8 million.
Knight Frank reported a significant increase in GCB transaction values, which reached S$369.5 million in the second quarter of 2023 compared to S$54.8 million in the first quarter. This surge followed a 51.8% drop between the first quarter of 2023 and the fourth quarter of 2022. The number of GCB transactions also rose from two units in the first quarter to six units in the second quarter.
In June, three bungalows in the Nassim Road GCB area made headlines when the Fangiono family of Singapore-listed palm oil company First Resources purchased them for a total of S$206.7 million, equivalent to S$4,500 per square foot on land with a total area of 45,937 square feet. Knight Frank added that unit land prices in the GCB market grew from S$1,225 per square foot in the first quarter of this year to S$3,732 per square foot in the second quarter, setting a new price benchmark since 2009.
The two Belmont Road GCBs, situated in the Belmont Park GCB area near Holland Village, occupy separate land lots with a combined land area of approximately 41,741 square feet. These plots offer the potential for a single mansion or the possibility of separate redevelopment into two new GCBs, according to JLL. The expression of interest exercise for both Belmont Road GCBs will conclude on October 27.
Despite recent increases in additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) as part of cooling measures, many GCB buyers tend to be first-time residential property buyers who are not subject to ABSD, according to Tan from JLL.
