Wife of Grab CEO Anthony Tan buys good class bungalow for $40m



Jul 9, 2021


Chloe Tong, wife of Grab co-founder and chief executive Anthony Tan, has bought a freehold property in the Bin Tong Park Good Class Bungalow (GCB) area for $40 million.

Mrs Tan bought the home from a Dr Lau Chee Chong, according to media reports.

The couple are expected to redevelop the Bin Tong Park property, which has a bungalow on site said to have been built in the 1990s.

Senior director (capital markets) at real estate agency JLL Singapore, Carin Puah, said: "GCBs are very sought-after as a status symbol. The newly rich younger generation and new citizens tend to want to get GCBs for their own use.

"It's a regular plot with good frontage. But the 1990s resort-style bungalow is no longer in trend and is likely to be redeveloped."

The $40 million GCB breaks down to $1,851 per square foot (psf) based on the 21,602 sq ft site - exceeding the last transacted price of $1,685 psf, or around $37 million for a bungalow in Bin Tong Park last December.

Harry Yap, OrangeTee & Tie associate executive director, said that the last highest transacted psf was $2,063, or $48 million for a bungalow in the same area in March 2018.

"Given the current GCB buying spree, and a 7 per cent increase in overall landed property prices in the first quarter this year from a year ago, the $1,851 psf price is reasonable," he said.

Ms Puah added: "The $1,851 psf is fair value for the Bin Tong Park GCB area in today's market. The nearby Leedon GCB cluster is already commanding $1,700 to $1,800 psf."

This purchase comes on the heels of another high-profile GCB deal by 28-year-old Ian Ang, chief executive and co-founder of gaming chair firm Secretlab.

Mr Ang splashed out $51 million in the span of a week last month on a good class bungalow in Caldecott Hill and a penthouse near the Botanic Gardens.

He exercised an option to buy a $36 million bungalow in Olive Road on June 24 and lodged a caveat on a 7,007 sq ft, five-bedroom triplex penthouse at Leedon Residence off Farrer Road for $15 million four days later.

JLL said that there have been 53 deals in GCB areas totalling nearly $1.5 billion this year, exceeding the tally for the whole of last year, when 50 transactions amounting to $1.29 billion were done.

Grab, the ride-hailing and food-delivery giant led by Mr Tan, 39, the scion of Malaysia car distributor Tan Chong Motor's president, plans to list in the United States later this year.

It will involve a merger with Altimeter Growth Corp that could value the combined entity at about US$40 billion (S$54 billion).

Mr Tan could see his fortune surge to US$829 million based on the amount of stock he will own, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.