Chairman Cheng Wai Keung is seeking a record S$300 million (US$242 million) for a home near Singapore’s Orchard Road shopping belt, betting that developers may profit from dividing the site.

The 85,000-square-foot site on an elevated lot at 33 Nassim Road, near the city’s Botanic Gardens, includes a two-story home, swimming pool and tennis court, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., the sole marketing agent.

“These kinds of assets come onto the market once in 10, 15 or even 20 years,” Karamjit Singh, head of investments and residential at Jones Lang LaSalle in Singapore, said in a phone interview yesterday. “The potential buyers of this league would be able to recognize the opportunity.”

Singh estimated the property in an area that includes the residence of the British high commissioner and embassies of Japan and Russia could fetch between S$250 million to S$300 million. The site may be sold as two lots, which can yield a total of five homes, he said.

“This is beyond economics, it’s mind boggling and probably one of the highest in the world,” said Alan Cheong, senior director of research and consultancy at broker Savills (Singapore) Pte. “It’s no small change even for the ultra high net worth. It could be an Indian tycoon or a Russian oligarch that might bid for it.”

The price is 79 percent higher than the $135 million listing for the Crespi-Hicks Estate in Dallas, according to broker Douglas Newby, which is marketing the property. The home on the 25-acre site, owned by former Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks, is touted as the most expensive property for sale in the U.S., according to a report by Time Magazine on Jan. 31.

“The primary value of a property is based on the land value,” Newby said in a phone interview yesterday. For the Singapore property, “if the land is worth $150 million to $200 million, then this might be a legitimate buy.”

Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man who’s ranked the 28th richest on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, owns a 27-story home in Mumbai valued at about $500 million, adding to his $22.4 billion net worth.

Residential prices in Singapore climbed to a record in the first quarter as an increase in the number of millionaires drove up demand. Singapore is Asia’s most-expensive housing market after Hong Kong, according to a Knight Frank LLP and Citi Private Bank report released last year that compared 63 locations globally.

Increasing wealth in the island-state has contributed to rising property prices. Singapore’s millionaire households rose 14 percent in 2011, according to a Boston Consulting study. The proportion of millionaire homes in the city of 5.3 million people was 17 percent, the highest in the world, followed by Qatar and Kuwait.

Source: Pooja Thakur, Bloomberg

New York is the lone U.S. city to land in the top 10 most expensive residential real estate markets in the world, according to a new report from Knight Frank.

But with luxury homes in New York costing anywhere from $2,030 to $2,240 per square foot, it’s only about half as expensive as the most expensive housing market in the world: Monaco. There, luxury homes can cost $5,350 to $5,920 per square foot. Monaco, which does not charge a personal income tax, was particularly popular with Russian buyers over French markets, according to the report.

Luxury real estate prices there increased 2 percent year over year. Prices in 2012 jumped the most in Indonesia, where they increased 38 percent in Jakarta and 20 percent in Bali.

The number of wealthy people in the world is also growing, and set to increase quickly in the next decade, according to the report.

The number of people worldwide worth $30 million or more increased by almost 8,700, or 5 percent, in 2012, and their number is set to increase 50 percent in the next 10 years, according to Knight Frank’s forecasts.

The following are the top 10 priciest housing markets in the world and the average cost per square foot in U.S. dollars, according to the report:

Monaco: $5,350 to $5,920
Hong Kong: $4,570 to $5,050
London: $3,890 to $4,300
Geneva: $2,720 to $3,010
Paris: $2,350 to $2,600
Singapore: $2,340 to $2,580
Moscow: $2,040 to $2,260
New York: $2,030 to $2,240
Sydney: $2,020 to $2,230
Shanghai: $1,820 to 2,020

Other U.S. cities rounding out the top 20 list were Miami at number 13 (priced between $1,300 to $1,440 per square foot) and Los Angeles at number 15 (priced between $1,210 to $1,340 per square foot).

Source: Realtor Mag/Business Insider