SINGAPORE: The wife of convicted Hin Leong Trading founder Lim Oon Kuin has quietly put her Good Class Bungalow (GCB) in Queen Astrid Park up for sale for S$100 million.

The 999-year leasehold property was put on the market just days after the Lim family agreed to pay US$3.5 billion (S$4.6 billion) to the liquidators of the property company. oil trading which has now disappeared.

The $100 million asking price equates to approximately $3,366 per square foot (psf) on a 29,709 square foot lot.

Documents show that Lim’s wife, Madam Tan Sook Eng, is listed as the sole owner of the GCB. She purchased the property in 2017 for $46 million, which works out to $1,548 psf.

Since October, at least two agents have been marketing Tan’s luxurious GCB, which spans a built-up area of ​​around 20,000 square feet. The two-story property has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. It also has an elevator, a private lap pool, a gym, a landscaped garden as well as a driver’s lounge and a room that can accommodate up to 16 cars.

An agent said the property was built more than 15 years ago, but underwent a $10 million renovation three years ago.

Steve Tay, executive director of Steve Tay Real Estate, said $1,548 psf was a record high for land values ​​in the Queen Astrid Park GCB area in 2017.

“But land values ​​have increased since then. Today, the value of GCB land in the Bukit Timah and off-Holland Road areas is between $2,100 and $2,500 per square foot, depending on land attributes and location,” he said.

“If you add $800 to $1,000 per square foot more in construction costs, the total investment cost for a newly rebuilt house in the GCB area of ​​Queen Astrid Park will be at least $3,100 to $3,300 per square foot.”

The most recent transaction in this area was an $86 million purchase of GCB in Queen Astrid Park by TikTok chief executive Chew Shou Zi in 2021. The price works out to approximately $2,704 per square foot on a plot of land of just over 31,800 square feet.

List Sotheby’s International Realty’s analysis of Realis data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed there were 17 transactions in GCB areas worth $470.3 million between January and September 24, 2024.

In 2023, there were 18 such transactions totaling $432.5 million, compared to 44 bungalow transactions totaling $1.19 billion in 2022.

“We observed that some bungalows were purchased by the second generation of local tycoons as well as new Singapore citizens over the past few months. These people will not be subject to additional stamp duty, as they are purchasing their first house for their own occupation,” said Han Huan Mei, research director of the real estate agency.

Since the collapse of Hin Leong, the Lim family has sold three GCBs located at 1K Tanglin Hill, 5 Second Avenue and 20 Third Avenue, which are among several Singapore properties subject to a freeze of the family’s assets ordered by the High Court to recover $3.5 billion in debt.

On September 30, the 81-year-old oil tycoon – who was convicted of three counts of cheating and forgery and is awaiting sentencing – and his two children, Evan Lim Chee Meng and Lim Huey Ching, agreed to pay 3, 5 billion dollars to the company. liquidators of Hin Leong and their largest creditor HSBC.

But the Lim family said in written statements on September 30 that it did not have enough assets to pay the plaintiffs and would file for bankruptcy.

A High Court hearing is scheduled for November 26 to hear the family’s bankruptcy applications.

Meanwhile, Tanglin Hill GCB was sold for $39.2 million to the children of Mapletree Investments Group CEO Hiew Yoon Khong, the Business Times reported. The GCB, which was jointly owned by Lim and his daughter Huey Ching, was put up for sale for $43 million.

Lim’s other bungalow, located at 20 Third Avenue, was sold in November 2023 to a Singapore family for just under $26.5 million, and another GCB at 5 Second Avenue was sold for $33, $39 million in October 2021 to the family of Tan Yeow Khoon, former executive chairman of the delisted company. logistics company Cogent Holdings.

The Straits Times understands that Lim’s 50 per cent share in Third Avenue GCB, which he jointly owned with his son Evan, will be subject to the Lim family’s asset freeze ordered by the High Court. -The time of the straits/ANN