Haidilao family gets option to buy S$42m bungalow in Gallop Road

Singapore

THE family of the Haidilao hotpot chain co-founder Zhang Yong is in the initial stages of buying a bungalow in Gallop Road next to the family's existing villa.

BT understands that an option to purchase the property was granted last month to Mr Zhang's son at S$42 million. This works out to S$1,940 per square foot based on the freehold land area of 21,647 sq ft. On the site is an old house that is ripe for redevelopment.

Market watchers note that reflecting the price rise in Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Areas, the S$1,940 psf on land alone in the latest deal is much higher than the S$1,700 psf the family paid in 2016 for the next door bungalow which was about four years old at the time. It sits on 15,884 sq ft of freehold land. Dubbed The Winged House, it was designed by K2LD Architects in the shape of two wings.

Mr Zhang and his wife, Shu Ping, are ranked by Forbes as Singapore's richest with a net worth estimated at US$19 billion as at August 2020.

He is the chairman and executive director and she, a non-executive director, at Haidilao International Holding, which was floated in Hong Kong in 2018. Ms Shu is also a co-founder of the company. The couple, as well as their son, who is is in his early twenties, are Singapore citizens. Last year, Ms Shu set up a family office in Singapore to manage her wealth, Bloomberg reported.

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 (URA) to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character. While anyone can buy a non-landed private home in Singapore, one generally has to be a Singapore citizen to be allowed to acquire a landed property in a GCB Area.

Activity in the GCB market has been brisk, buoyed by purchases by naturalised Singapore citizens as well as wealthy local families who continue to pick up GCBs for their children and grandchildren.

Also among buyers of this real estate class are the newly rich whose businesses have benefited from the current crisis and some of these folks are buying their first bungalow for their own occupation, say observers.

Other recent transactions in GCB Areas include a bungalow in Cluny Hill with a view of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It was transacted at S$38.6 million or S$2,315 psf, according to URA Realis data. Along Lermit Road, an old bungalow was sold for S$34.75 million or S$2,000 psf; it is ripe for redevelopment. Another transaction, in Mount Echo Park, was at S$32 million or S$1,712 psf.