Singapore Tycoon OK Lim’s Tanglin Hill Mansion on Sale for $32M

A villa owned by troubled tycoon Lim Oon Kuin in Singapore’s posh Tanglin Hill area is up for sale by tender at a guide price of S$43 million ($31.8 million).

The good-class bungalow, Singapore’s term for a luxury landed home, is a freehold two-storey detached house with a built area of 8,110 square feet (753 square metres) on a plot measuring 15,636 square feet, according to marketing agent Knight Frank. Sold with vacant possession, the mansion offers five bedrooms plus a spare room, a swimming pool, a landscaped garden and a large car porch in a quiet and exclusive cul-de-sac, Knight Frank said Friday in a release.

“There has been quite a bit of market buzz about GCBs of late, and for good reason,” said Mary Sai, executive director for capital markets at Knight Frank Singapore. “On top of offering substantial capital appreciation, these prized assets’ prime location and access to lifestyle options reinforce their desirability.”

The GCB is at least the third to be put up for sale by the businessman better known as OK Lim, who was convicted last month of charges related to cheating and forgery at his failed Hin Leong oil trading firm. The 82-year-old Lim is being sued for $3.5 billion by creditors and his properties are subject to a court-ordered asset freeze.

Rarified Bungalows

The Tanglin Hill house sits close to the Orchard Road shopping belt and 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, Knight Frank said.

Another Lim-owned GCB at 20 Third Avenue in Bukit Timah sold for just under S$26.5 million last November after going on the market in September at a guide price of S$30 million. That home spanned a gross floor area of 10,000 square feet on a 14,576 square foot plot.

Lim’s GCB at nearby 5 Second Avenue sold for S$33.4 million in October 2021, the Business Times reported.

More recently, a GCB near Tanglin Hill on Gallop Road sold for S$42.5 million, or S$2,544 per square foot of land area, according to Knight Frank. The property transacted in April and was bought by the wife of Forrest Li, the founder and CEO of Singapore-based tech giant Sea, the agency said.

Ringing the Register

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that the scion of a Singapore department store dynasty was seeking to sell his Victoria Park mansion for S$83 million.

The home owned by Tang Wee Kit, son of the late CK Tang, sits on more than 0.7 acres (0.3 hectares) and features covered parking, eight bathrooms and a swimming pool, the news agency said, citing a Knight Frank listing.

Singapore’s luxury detached-house market is showing signs of a rebound after just 23 GCBs were sold in 2023, a historic low since record-keeping began in 1996, according to CBRE.