Four Good Class Bungalows sold for $36 mil each in 48 hrs
Four Good Class Bungalows ( GCB) changed hands for $ 36 million over two days from June 24 to 25. Property agents that EdgeProp spoke to reckon it is just a coincidence. The owners are as varied as the GCBs and the locations. Two of the GCBs were transacted for the same absolute price of $36 million, with caveats lodged on the same day — June 25. One was a GCB at Binjai Park and the other is at Swettenham Road. The third is a GCB at 24 Coronation Road West which had been put on the market for sale at $37 million in May. It is said to have found a buyer for $36 million around the same time towards the end of June, although a caveat has yet to be lodged. The fourth is the GCB at 27 Olive Road, which was sold to Ian Ang, the co-founder of Secretlab gaming chair, with a caveat lodged for $36 million on June 24.
Binjai Park
The GCB at Binjai Park sits on a freehold corner plot of 27,320 sq ft and has a prominent frontage. It has changed hands four times in the past 26 years. The property is one of the biggest plots on Binjai Park, hence the $ 36 million transaction price is also the highest achieved in the GCB estate to date. The price translates to a land rate of $ 1,318 psf.
The property was owned by Seow Soon Yong, CEO of Singapore- listed structural steel contractor and civil engineer, Yongnam Holdings, for over a decade. Seow had purchased it in 2010 for $27 million ($988 psf) and had built a new house on the site, which was completed in 2012. The property was put up for sale two years ago with a $40 million ($1,464 psf) price tag.
According to a property title search, the buyers of the GCB at Binjai Park is Ng Siew Moi, a director of Inter- Continental Oils & Fats (ICOF), a merchandiser and distributor of sustainable palm oil and palm oil derivative products, and Lim Jing Yi Clara, Karim.
Swettenham Road
Meanwhile, the GCB at Swettenham Road that fetched $36 million ($1,954 psf) a fortnight ago sits on a freehold site of 18,427 sq ft. The GCB was previously held by Ng Bok Eng Holdings, a company founded in 1969 focusing on property and securities investment. The firm was founded by the late business tycoon and philanthropist Ng Bok Eng, who was known in the past as the “king of cloves”. Ng had migrated to Singapore in 1947 and founded Bian Bee Company, an import-export business dealing in cloves, coffee and pepper.Ng Bok Eng Holdings purchased the GCB at Swettenham Road for $6.5 million ($353 psf) in Nov 2003. On the site is an existing house built in 2000. The recent sale price of $36 million is more than 5.5 times the original purchase price 18 years ago.
The buyer of the GCB at Swettenham Road, based on a property title search, is Gregory Alva Ng Yong He. According to his bio from an article in New Naratif published in August 2019, Ng is a writer and researcher based in Singapore. He is a graduate with a BA in ethnicity, race & migration from Yale University, and at that time, was enrolled in
the performance studies MA programme at New York University. Ng is said to be one of the sons of Philip Ng, CEO of one of Singapore’s largest property groups, Far East Organization. The deal was brokered by Michael Lam of Asset Property.
Coronation Road West
The GCB at 24 Coronation Road West is said to have changed hands around the same time for $36 million. The GCB, which sits on a freehold site of 24,000 sq ft, was put on the market for $37 million just two months ago. However, a caveat has yet to be lodged. The property is owned by a family under the entity of Namazie Realty, according to a title search. Steve Tay, senior associate vice-president of List Sotheby’s International Realty, who brokered the sale, declined to comment on the deal.
The orientation of the property at 24 Coronation Road West can be changed. It will front Jalan Sampurna and become part of the Oei Tiong Ham GCB estate. The buyer has the option to purchase the strip of state land of about 8,000 sq ft adjacent to the property at Coronation Road West. However, approval from Singapore Land Authority is needed for the amalgamation with the existing GCB site to create a larger land plot.
Olive Road
The GCB at 27 Olive Road was purchased by Ian Ang, co-founder of Secretlab, a manufacturer of gaming chairs, for $36 million, according to a caveat lodged on Jun 24. The story was first published on EdgeProp Singapore on June 29.
The property was previously owned by Danny Yong Ming Chong, founding partner and CIO of hedge fund Dymon Asia Capital, who had purchased it for $26.1 million ($1,114 psf) in Oct 2012. “When the owner purchased the site back then, the plan was to build a new home and move in eventually,” says Tay of List Sotheby’s, who represented the seller in the deal.
The old bungalow at Olive Road was built in 1940. Yong renovated the property and rented to an expatriate family who wanted a vast garden so that their four pet Silkie chickens can roam freely. The family likes the proximity to MacRitchie Nature Trail and Reservoir Park as well as the convenience of amenities in the nearby Thomson Road and Toa Payoh precincts, notes Tay. They have been living there for the past five years.
The GCB at 27 Olive Road, which sits on an elevated plot of 23,424 sq ft, had been put on the market for $38.9 million several months ago. At the sale price of $36 million ($1,537 psf), it is a record high both in terms of absolute and psf price for the Caldecott Hill Estate. “There hasn’t been a GCB in the Caldecott Hill Estate sold for above $30 million in the last 15 years,” notes Tay.