Forrest Li’s wife buys the bungalow at Gallop Road that is next to his redeveloped one
Another deal this year was a bungalow along Gallop park Road which went for S$26.5mil or S$2,059psf. It covered an area of around 12,870sq ft. On Garlick avenue, a property sold at S$19.5mil or S$1,885psf.
List Sotheby’s International Realty’s analyses of URA Realis caveats show that there have been seven transactions in GCB Areas worth almost S$200 million so far in this year. For the whole year last year, there were 18 transactions with a total of S$432.5m.
There are also deals that buyers haven’t filed any caveats for
In 2023, this figure was estimated to be at least S$700,000,000. Some examples include four bungalows purchased in Nassim Road by members from the Fangiono, a family behind Singapore-listed palm producer First Resources. They paid a total amount of S$295million for them.
Ma Liqian will buy the property owned by the deceased kidney doctor Gordon Ku who founded Kidney Dialysis Foundation from his children.
Forrest Li’s family is expanding their presence on the Good Class Bungalows market, located near the Singapore Botanic Park in Gallop Road.
Ma Liqian Li’s spouse is buying an old bungalow worth S$42.5million next to one Li has almost completed renovating. The two properties are both on freehold lands. Ma’s payment is S$2,544/sqft on a 16703-sqft land area. The site has a very long driveway.
Singapore Citizens, both the couple and their children are.
Li paid S$26million or S$1,722psf for the old bungalow located next door, on a 15100 sqft plot in December 2018. This site has been developed into a 2-storey detached bungalow with a cellar, attic and swimming pool.
Ma has bought the property for the Kidney Dialysis Foundation from the children who were the former kidney doctor Gordon Ku. Dr Ku will die in February of 2023.
Both bungalows form part of the Gallop Road/Woollerton Heights GCB Area
Sea, listed in New York, is headed by Li, who has just turned 40.
Li founded Garena – an online gaming firm – in 2009. Shopee was later added, as were digital financial services SeaMoney. Sea was listed in 2017 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Sea announced their first profitable year in history, with earnings of US$162.7million for 2023. They had suffered a US$1.7billion loss in 2022. Nevertheless, the analysts’ estimate of US$301.7 was missed.
Revenue for the period grew by 4.9 percent to US$13.1billion, compared with US$12.4billion a previous year. Analysts’ estimates of US$12.9billion were exceeded.
Shopee, Shopee’s ecommerce unit, reported profits for both the first and second half of 2023. E-commerce revenue grew 23.5 per cent in 2023 to US$9 bn from US$7.3 bn in 2022. The unit’s loss was US$550.5 for the full year.
Li, who is from Tianjin has a bachelor’s degree in engineering at Shanghai Jiaotong University. He moved after earning his MBA at Stanford University. He won the Businessman Award for 2019/2020, at the 35th Singapore Business Awards organized by The Business Times in November 2020.
In his acceptance remarks, the selfmade billionaire said “Singapore adopted me when I had no money.” I arrived in Singapore with a small amount of savings, but a huge student loan bill. We could only afford one bedroom of a three-room HDB in Braddell.
Singapore’s GCB Areas contain the most exclusive landed homes in Singapore. These bungalows are protected by strict planning restrictions to ensure their exclusivity. For newly built bungalows located in GCB Areas, a minimum of 1,400 square metres (15,070 ft2) is specified as the standard planning size.
The island has only about 2,700 such homes, so owning one is “rare”
Singapore citizenship is required in most cases to purchase a landed property within a GCB Area.
Another GCB deal that closed this year was a slightly older house in Cornwall Gardens. The old house is now being sold at a price of S$36.8 million. On the 19,207 sq ft land, the price is S$1,875 psf. Accordingly to market watchers who spoke to BT news agency, approximately 10 to 15% of this land are required for road reserve. The buyer of the property is a Singaporean who is in her late 30s. Her business is early childcare and educational. The deal was initiated in mid-2023. An option to purchase the property has been exercised within this month.
Bloomberg recently reported on the purchase of a bungalow by WeeEeCheong, youngest child of UOB CEO WeeEeCheong. Bloomberg reported that the price of S$2,020/sqft is based on a 19,554-square-foot land area.