Wife of convicted Hin Leong founder puts up Queen Astrid Park GCB for sale at $100 million

Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 07 Nov 2024
Author: Grace Leong

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 liquidators of the now-defunct oil trading firm.

The wife of convicted Hin Leong Trading founder Lim Oon Kuin has quietly put up for sale her good class bungalow (GCB) in Queen Astrid Park for $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 liquidators of the now-defunct oil trading firm.

The asking price of $100 million works out to around $3,366 per sq ft (psf) on a land area of 29,709 sq ft.

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 Madam Tan’s luxe GCB, which has a built-up area of about 20,000 sq ft. The two-storey property boasts six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. It also has a lift, private lap pool, gym room, landscaped garden as well as a drivers’ lounge and room for up to 16 cars.

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

Mr 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 back in 2017.

“But land values have since risen. Today, GCB land values in the Bukit Timah and off-Holland Road areas are transacting at between $2,100 and $2,500 psf, depending on land attributes and location,” he said.

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

The most recent transaction in this area was an $86 million GCB purchase in Queen Astrid Park by TikTok chief executive Chew Shou Zi in 2021. The price works out to about $2,704 psf on a land area of slightly over 31,800 sq ft.

List Sotheby’s International Realty’s analysis of data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Realis showed that there were 17 deals in GCB areas worth $470.3 million from January to Sept 24, 2024.

In 2023, there were 18 such deals totalling $432.5 million, compared with 44 bungalow deals totalling $1.19 billion in 2022.

“We observed that some of the bungalows were bought by the second-generation of local tycoons as well as newly-minted Singapore citizens in recent months. These people will not be subject to additional buyer’s stamp duty, as they are buying their first home for their own occupation,” the property agency’s research director Han Huan Mei said.

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

On Sept 30, the 81-year-old oil tycoon – who has been convicted of three cheating and forgery charges and is awaiting sentencing – and his two children, Evan Lim Chee Meng and Lim Huey Ching, agreed to pay US$3.5 billion to the liquidators of Hin Leong and their biggest creditor HSBC.

But the Lim family said in written statements on Sept 30 that they do not have enough assets to pay the claimants and will be applying for bankruptcy.

A High Court hearing has been scheduled on Nov 26 to hear the family’s bankruptcy applications.

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

Lim’s other bungalow 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 Mr Tan Yeow Khoon, former executive chairman of delisted logistics company Cogent Holdings.

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