Wing Tai chairman sells Nassim Road bungalow property for $230 million

A privately-owned company controlled by Wing Tai Holdings chairman Cheng Wai Keung and his wife, Helen, has sold a sprawling bungalow property at 33 Nassim Road for S$230 million.

The price reflects S$2,721 per square foot (psf) based on the freehold land area of 84,543 sq ft. The couple do not reside at the bungalow.

The buyer is SG Casa Pte Ltd. A company search showed its principal activity description classified as trustee, fiduciary and custody services firms.

Property searches showed that the contract date for the 33 Nassim Road transaction was May 10 this year, with the transfer of the property to the purchaser registered on July 4.

In absolute price terms, this is the biggest transaction in a Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area, toppling S$105.3 million paid last year by Tony Tung, the Singaporean chairman of Hong Kong-based Winson Group, for a bungalow on 42,515 sq ft of freehold land, also along Nassim Road.

In terms of psf on land area, the S$2,721 psf on land area for 33 Nassim Road is among the highest achieved in a GCB Area.

Last year, a record was set at S$2,729.52 psf by seasoned bungalow investor George Lim when he sold a newly-built bungalow that he developed in Jervois Hill, albeit on a much small plot of 15,094 sq ft. The S$41.2 million property was bought by the daughter of Alan Chong, the founder of Wah Loon Engineering who earlier last year had sold most of his stake in the company to a subsidiary of Euronext Paris-listed infrastructure and construction giant Vinci SA.

However, property agents believe that that record is likely to have been broken by British consumer electronics maker Dyson's founder, James Dyson, with his recent purchase of a bungalow along Cluny Road facing the Singapore Botanic Gardens. That property has a land area of about 15,100 sq ft.

The 33 Nassim Road plot, which is rectangular in shape, has a nearly 100 m road frontage. It can be redeveloped into five bungalows. The existing bungalow on site has an in-ground swimming pool and a full-sized tennis court.

The Chengs put the property on the market in 2013 for sale by tender, with an asking price in the region of S$250-300 million.

Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB Areas are the most prestigious form of landed housing in Singapore, with strict planning conditions stipulated by the Urban Redevelopment Authority to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character.

This article was first published in The Business Times. Permission required for republication.