Lian Beng Group’s Ong family members pick up two bungalows in Belmont Road for S$60 million
The price works out to S$1,437 per square foot on the total land area of 41,741 sq ft
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[SINGAPORE] Two members of the Ong family behind construction and property group Lian Beng are buying a pair of freehold bungalows in Belmont Road with a total land area of 41,741 square feet (sq ft), in separate deals totalling S$60 million.
The price works out to about S$1,437 per square foot (psf) on land area for each property. The old bungalows, next to each other, are ripe for redevelopment. They are currently leased out.
Located at the periphery of the Belmont Park Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area, the two bungalows are being sold separately, by a low-profile aunt-and-niece pair, The Business Times understands.
The aunt is selling the larger plot of 24,178 sq ft, on which stands a single-storey house, at S$34.75 million to Matthew Ong, the elder son of Lian Beng chairman Ong Pang Aik.
The niece’s two-level bungalow next door with a site area of 17,563 sq ft is being sold to Ong Pang Aik’s younger brother Ong Phang Hoo for S$25.25 million.
BT understands that the Ong family members plan to tear down the existing houses and build two new bungalows for their own occupation.
Sakal Real Estate, which brokered the sale of the two houses via private treaty, confirmed the transaction but declined to comment.
The property agency was appointed the exclusive marketing agent by the owners, and conducted an expression of interest (EOI) exercise that closed in March last year. The indicative price then was S$88.8 million, or about S$2,128 psf.
Prior to that, JLL had conducted an EOI exercise for the property in 2023, with a price expectation of S$2,100 psf.
Past deal in area
In 2024, Hillhouse Investment founder and chairman Zhang Lei’s family picked up two bungalows on Belmont Road for a total of S$131.4 million or S$3,000 psf.
At the time, industry observers said the land rate was above market expectation and attributed this to the potential for redeveloping the combined 43,789 sq ft site into a large house at the highest point of Belmont Road, with a panoramic, unblocked view.
On the other hand, the two bungalows being bought by the Ong family members are below road level and are on land that slopes downwards, overlooking Cornwall Gardens.
Moreover, the larger of the two plots is affected by a drainage reserve. Upon the site’s redevelopment, the drainage reserve is expected to be diverted to the side of the plot and this part of the land will have to be vested to the state.
The total site area of 41,741 sq ft for the two bungalows being bought by the Ong family is one of the biggest for a transaction in a GCB Area this year.
Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB Areas are the most prestigious form of landed housing in Singapore, with strict planning conditions to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character.
A minimum plot size of 1,400 square metres, or 15,070 sq ft, is specified as the planning norm for newly created bungalows in GCB Areas.
One generally has to be a Singapore citizen to be allowed to acquire a landed property in a GCB Area.
Video: What is a Good Class Bungalow?
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