Back on the market: Nassim Road GCB for sale at $308 million

Would the third time be the charm for the sale of this good class bungalow?

A two-storey bungalow along Nassim Road is back on the market with an asking price of $308 million, The Business Times reported on Wednesday (Oct 9).

The freehold property — 40 Nassim Road — owned by Hong Fok Corporation's joint CEO Cheong Pin Chuan and his wife, was first put up for sale for $175 million back in 2019.

It was later tenanted at $50,000 a month from April 2020, EdgeProp reported.

The couple put the property up for sale again in 2022 with a guide price of $220 million.

The property, which sits near Singapore's premier shopping belt, has a total area of over 58,000 sq ft and is going for $5,240 psf this time around.

A conservation bungalow occupies the largest (28,138 sq ft) of the property's three land plots.

The other two land plots measuring 15,779 sq ft and 14,867 sq ft respectively are currently used as gardens.

These two plots of land could be developed into bungalows, which means that the property could hold up to three bungalows.

"A potential buyer could look to build two new bungalows, or just one large bungalow, on the two front plots, and perhaps use the conservation bungalow in the rear as a clubhouse/entertainment area," Julian Yip, managing director of Realstar Premier, the marketing agent for the property, told The Business Times.

Speaking with AsiaOne, Yip said that the owners had instructed him to sell either the whole plot or divide the plot between the conservation property and the two smaller plots.

He had suggested the aforementioned permutations that possible buyers could go for because he felt those permutations would maximise the potential of the plot of land.

Yip also told AsiaOne that landed properties that can be subdivided into multiple bungalows are few and far between, but not unprecedented.

"There are existing ones that are like that, but rare — it's quite rare to be able to build three [bungalows]," he said.

Yip added that the owners' decision to sell the property now is likely to succeed because there's no competition in the market at the moment.

"The one by Cuscaden Peak Investments has already been sold, so there aren't any other huge plots of land to compete with them," he said. "So I think the time is right, the price level is right."

When asked what he thinks is the "right" price level of the property, Yip declined to give a figure.

"What I can say is that any serious offers that are not far away from the market price will be presented [to the owner], and the owner will decide."

Posh property

Cheong and his wife have owned the GCB at 40 Nassim Road for at least 30 years, but they have never lived in it, EdgeProp reported.

“The house has always been tenanted,” CBRE head of capital markets Michael Tay told the real estate publication in 2022.

Among the tenants were the Saudi Arabia Embassy from 2001 to 2008, followed by the corporate chieftains of companies such as Glenn Defence marine, DHL Supply Chain and BNP Paribas.

Between 2018 and 2020, this GCB was rented by HH Investments. The last known tenant was a Hong Kong family.

ALSO READ: Tanglin Hill GCB sets new record price of nearly $6,200 psf

khooyihang@asiaone.com