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- A tech founder's wife paid 128.8 million Singapore dollars, or nearly $96 million, for a house in an ultra-exclusive Singapore neighborhood.
- It's the most expensive single-family home sold so far in Singapore in 2021.
- The house, which was built in 1964, will likely require millions in renovations, one local real-estate agent said.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
The wife of a Singapore tech founder paid 128.8 million Singapore dollars, about $95.6 million, for a house on exclusive Nassim Road, according to property website EdgeProp.
The home sits on a 32,160-square-foot lot next to the British High Commission on Nassim Road, Singapore's most prestigious road that's lined with embassies and multimillion-dollar mansions. Jin Xiao Qun, who's married to Shi Xu, the founder of Nanofilm Technologies International, bought the property from businesswoman Oei Siu Hoa, who's also known as Sukmawati Widjaja, per the report.
Jin's purchase is the priciest single home sale of the year, according to property records. The highest overall residential sale came earlier this month when a buyer paid SG$293 million – about $217.5 million – for all 20 units of an ultra-luxury condo building.
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Sunita Gill, CEO and founder of real-estate firm Singapore Luxury Homes, said she was surprised by the high purchase price of the Nassim Road property, noting that it's "not ready for move-in."
"Usually purchases like that are influenced either by a potential feng shui decision or external advice on why she was willing to pay this kind of a price," Gill told Insider.
Known as Ladyvale Bungalow, the house was built in 1964 and sold by the British High Commission in 2000 for SG$19.3 million, according to Tatler Singapore. Oei, the most recent owner, bought the home for SG$25.5 million in 2003.
Although the home is designated as a "good class bungalow" - the most rare and coveted type of housing in Singapore - it will likely require a full renovation that could cost from SG$500 to SG$1,000 per square foot, Gill said.
"So if you calculate that into size of the property, she is potentially looking at another 20 to 30 million [Singapore dollars] just on rebuild cost," she said.
Jin could not immediately be reached for comment for this story.
The Nassim Road home sale also breaks Singapore's price-per-square-foot record, which was set in 2019 when vacuum billionaire James Dyson paid SG$50 million for a home on a 15,101-square-foot lot on nearby Cluny Road.
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Bruce Lye, cofounder and managing partner at Singapore Realtors Inc, said he thought the price was fair for the location, even considering the cost of potential renovations.
"A piece of regular land in Nassim is like fine art or wine," Lye told Insider, adding that the prices of such properties "keep reaching new highs all the time."
The deal hints that 2021 could be another banner year for Singapore real estate after home prices recently reached a two-year high as Singaporeans and foreign nationals snap up homes during the pandemic.
"Our high-end market is very resilient," Lye said. "Singapore is much sought after due to our safe haven status for ultra-high-net-worth individuals. With amendments to the Global Investor Program and benefits of setting up family offices in Singapore, we will see many more eye-popping deals being inked in the near future."