Beverly Hills of Singapore? Take a stroll down the Lion City’s exclusive Nassim Road and its intriguing mix of mansions and estates
Nassim Road, a quiet, tree-lined street that’s less than 2km (one mile) long, is the most exclusive and expensive street in Singapore, where some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential people call home.
“Nassim has become a brand name on its own,” Bruce Lye, the co-founder and managing partner at Singapore Realtors Inc., told me. “The Nassim address itself commands a big premium … If you have the opportunity to own a piece of land there, it’s something that can be passed down for generations to come.”
Of the handful of good class bungalows publicly listed on Nassim Road right now, the cheapest is about US$45 million and the priciest is roughly US$72 million.
Nassim Road’s exclusivity stems from its secluded locations, large lots and the fact that it’s a short street with a limited number of home sites.
“A piece of regular land in Nassim is like fine art or wine,” Lye said in March, adding that the prices of such properties “keep reaching new highs all the time”.
I recently took a walk up Nassim Road, starting from where it meets Tanglin Road and Orchard Road – Singapore’s famous shopping street – all the way to its end point at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Here’s what I saw.
After the hustle and bustle of the Orchard Road area, stepping onto Nassim Road felt like stepping into a quiet, lush garden. The road was lined with trees, which muffled the noise of the city.
Toward the bottom of the road were a couple of condo buildings including this one, called Nassim Park. Current listings in the building range from a four-bedroom unit for about US$9.5 million to a five-bedroom penthouse for US$26 million.
As I continued my walk up Nassim Road, the sounds of the city faded away even further and all I heard were birds and the occasional sounds of construction. The few cars that drove by were either construction vehicles or Range Rovers, Audis, Mercedes and Porsches.
The condo buildings I saw at the bottom of the street gave way to grand homes like this gated mansion …
… and this ultra-modern house, which belongs to Stephen Riady, the executive chairman of real estate company OUE.
Riady paid US$70 million (S$95 million) for the home – which was designed by French architect Jean Francois Milou – in August 2019.
Nassim Road is clearly a high-security area. Every home I saw was outfitted with multiple security cameras, and that was on top of the gates and fences that surrounded most of the homes.
And the homes weren’t the only high-security buildings on Nassim Road. I walked by the Russian Embassy, a stark grey, brutalist building that had signs warning that photography was forbidden. The street is also home to the Embassy of the Philippines and the Embassy of Japan. Some of the houses had gatehouses.
Most of the mansions were set far back on their lots and partially obscured by trees. Many were barely visible.
Through dense foliage, I could see just a peek of Eden Hall, the official residence of the British high commissioner in Singapore.
In March, a bungalow right next to Eden Hall sold for US$96 million to Jin Xiao Qun, the wife of Singaporean tech entrepreneur Shi Xu, who founded Nanofilm Technologies International.
Sunita Gill, the CEO and founder of the real estate firm Singapore Luxury Homes, said at the time that the new owner would likely need to shell out about another US$20 million to renovate the nearly 60-year-old bungalow – showing just how much effort and money buyers are willing to spend for property on Nassim Road.
About halfway up Nassim Road is the most expensive property ever sold in the prestigious area: a good class bungalow that sits on nearly 85,000 sq ft of land.
In the summer of 2019, it sold for S$230 million Singaporean dollar. The seller was Cheng Wai Keung, chairman of property developer Wing Tai Holdings, who has an estimated net worth of US$705 million.
The identity of the buyer has never been made public, but rumours have floated around that it was Saverin.
Many homes on the street appear empty and unoccupied. Lye, the real estate broker, told me that quite a few of the homes on Nassim Road are sitting empty because some buyers are “land banking”, or holding the property with the intention of selling it in the future rather than living in it.
“People who own these plots of land are waiting for somebody to buy them out at whatever premium that they think the plot commands,” Lye said. “People are just buying it, knowing that the value will always be there.”
There were, however, multiple active construction sites on Nassim Road where people were either renovating older bungalows or building new ones.
The grandeur of Nassim Road is perhaps best displayed by satellite, which shows sprawling mansions with resort-like grounds and swimming pools.
But from the road, you can only catch a tiny glimpse of that opulence. The neighbourhood’s true essence is hidden from view for those who don’t have the wealth and access to go beyond the gates.
If you’re looking for a clear display of Singapore’s famed wealth, you will not find it on Nassim Road.
While there’s no dearth of impressive homes on Nassim Road, the bulk of them are hidden from view by trees, walls and fences.
This article originally appeared on Business Insider.
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- Rumour has it that Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin bought the most expensive home ever sold on Nassim Road for US$170 million
- The road’s ultra-wealthy residents live in ‘good class bungalows’, the most coveted type of residence, and land there can be ‘passed down for generations’