1K Tanglin Hill had been taken over by receivers (Image: Knight Frank)
The children of Mapletree Investments CEO Hiew Yoon Khong have purchased a mansion in Singapore’s prestigious Tanglin Hill area formerly owned by convicted tycoon Lim Oon Kuin for S$39.2 million ($30.1 million).
The two-storey detached house at 1K Tanglin Hill, termed a good-class bungalow (GCB) under Singapore’s convention for luxury landed homes, is situated near the city-state’s Orchard Road retail strip on a plot measuring 15,636 square feet. Market sources confirmed to Mingtiandi that the buyers are Hiew Wen Ji and Hiew Wen Li, sons of the head of the Temasek-owned property firm.
“Singapore’s GCB market continues to show resilience,” said Galven Tan, chief executive officer for Knight Frank in Singapore. “There is still ample interest from buyers and this is typically local Singaporeans looking out for good plots.”
Formerly jointly owned by the businessman better known as OK Lim and his daughter Lim Huey Ching, the Tanglin Hill GCB is at least the third luxury residence to be sold by the tycoon since October 2021. Lim was convicted last month on charges related to cheating and forgery at his collapsed Hin Leong oil trading firm. Currently free on bail, the 82-year-old is scheduled to be sentenced on 3 October and faces a jail term of up to 10 years.
Third Mansion Sale
At S$2,507 per square foot, the property was sold by receivers representing Hin Leong creditors at an 8.8 percent discount to the asset’s S$43 million guide price when it was put up for sale two months ago.
OK Lim on his way to Singapore’s court in 2023 (Getty Images)
The mansion has a built area of 8,110 square feet (753 square metres) and features five bedrooms plus a spare room, swimming pool, landscaped garden and a large car port in an exclusive cul-de-sac, according to Knight Frank, which brokered the sale through a tender concluded on 19 July. The transaction was first reported by the Business Times.
Located within the Ridley Park GCB area, the freehold property is situated close to the Napier and Orchard Boulevard MRT stations via Tanglin Road, within a short drive of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Gleneagles Hospital and Camden Medical Centre.
Following Hin Leong’s collapse and subsequent winding up in 2021, a Singapore court had frozen Lim family assets, including the three GCBs, following legal action by the company’s creditor. Lim and his two children are currently facing civil action from creditors including HSBC and DBS attempting to collect $3.5 billion in debts.
A GCB at 20 Third Avenue in Bukit Timah that was owned by Lim and his son, Evan Lim Chee Meng, last November sold for S$26.4 million (S$1,811 per square foot) to an undisclosed buyer after going on the market in September at a guide price of S$30 million.
In October 2021, a mansion at 5 Second Avenue which had been jointly owned by OK Lim and his wife Tan Sook Eng was sold to Tan Yeow Khoon, former executive chairman of Singapore-based logistics company Cogent Holdings, for S$33.4 million (S$1,671 per square foot).
Slow Market
With the vast majority of citizens in land-starved Singapore living in high rises, luxury landed homes are targets for the city’s wealthiest investors.
“There is a two-tiered market for GCB assets. These rare properties are prized possessions, so there are buyers who, when they see something they like, will be ready to act,” said Tan.
In April, a GCB near Tanglin Hill on Gallop Road sold for S$42.5 million, or S$2,544 per square foot of land area. The property was bought by the wife of Forrest Li, founder and CEO of Singapore-based tech giant Sea Ltd.
That same month, the youngest daughter of UOB chief executive Wee Ee Cheong paid S$39.5 million to buy a 19,500 square foot GCB at Ford Avenue near Holland Road from former Keppel Ltd CEO Choo Chiau Beng, while the daughter of Chinese nickel and stainless steel magnate Xiang Guangda picked up a 28,111 square foot mansion in the Bin Tong Park area for S$84 million.
In June, the son of the late Singapore department store tycoon CK Tang listed his Victoria Park mansion for S$83 million.
Singapore’s luxury detached-house market is showing signs of a recovery after just 23 GCBs were sold in 2023, a historic low since record-keeping began in 1996, according to CBRE.
In the first six months of the year, 13 GCBs worth S$457.1 million were sold, more than double the S$202.1 million of transactions across nine units in the second half of 2023, albeit still down 20.5 percent year-on-year from the S$575.3 million of deals notched across 14 GCB units in the first half of 2023, according to a report this month by the consultancy.
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