SINGAPORE (Apr 24): A Good Class Bungalow (GCB) sitting on a 19,989 sq ft, freehold site on Second Avenue, just off Bukit Timah Road, changed hands for $27 million ($1,351 psf), according to a caveat lodged with URA Realis on April 14, and downloaded on April 21. A title search shows that the current owners are Hin Leong Trading founder Lim Oon Kuin and his wife, Tan Sook Eng.
According to property agents who specialise in the GCB market, the $27 million or $1,351 psf reflected in the caveat was “a fair price”. After all, the last transaction at Second Avenue was for the GCB next door: sitting on a 20,000 sq ft, freehold site, the property fetched $27.5 million ($1,375 psf) in August 2018.
With Lim’s oil empire now submerged in debt, the sale is not surprising. Understandably, there is interest over what other assets Lim owns.
The GCB at Second Avenue is not the only one that Lim owns. One street away is a GCB located on a corner plot at Third Avenue. The property sits on a smaller freehold site of 14,575 sq ft and is jointly owned by Lim and his son Chee Meng, according to a property title search.
Lim had purchased the GCB at Third Avenue 25 years ago. He paid $8.95 million ($614 psf) for it, based on a caveat lodged in April 1995. Prices have almost doubled over the span of the last 25 years. Just across the road, a GCB sitting on a 16,276 sq ft, freehold site, changed hands for $18.8 million ($1,155 psf), according to a caveat lodged in May 2019. The GCB at Third Avenue is said to be Lim’s current home.
Another GCB at Queen Astrid Park, purchased for $46 million ($1,548 psf) in 2017 is held solely by Lim’s wife, Tan Sook Eng.
At Tanglin Hill, Lim also owns a GCB at Tanglin Villas jointly with daughter, Huey Ching, who is also a director of Hin Leong Trading. The freehold property was purchased in Nov 1999, but no caveat was lodged then.
The latest transaction at Tanglin Hill was for a GCB built in the 1980s, which sits on a land area of 16,448 sq ft. It was sold for $31.5 million ($1,915 psf) last October. It will be interesting to see what Lim will divest next to stave off creditors.
