A 60-Storey HDB Is Coming To Pearl’s Hill — The First Public Housing Here In 40 Years

Singapore will soon see its tallest HDB project yet. Located on the site of the former Outram Park Complex, the new Build-to-Order (BTO) development at Pearl’s Hill will be more than 60 stories tall. This surpasses the current tallest HDB project, Pinnacle @ Duxton on Cantonment Road, which is 50 storeys tall.

Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat announced the future BTO project in Parliament on March 4. The future BTO is at the base of Pearl’s Hill City Park, and will be next to Outram Park MRT Interchange on the East-West (EWL) and Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), as well as the iconic One Pearl Bank. The BTO will comprise approximately 1,700 flats with a mix of two-room Flexi, three-room, and four-room units, as well as over 140 public rental flats.

Some market watchers, like ERA Singapore, estimate that prices for the new BTO units at Pearl’s Hill could start from:

•  $218,000 to $369,000 for a two-room flexi
• $420,000 to $562,000 for a three-room flat
• $578,000 to $788,000 for a four-room flat

The absence of 5-room flats matches the unit mix we have seen among recent Prime BTO projects that HDB has rolled out in recent months, and we think this project is almost certain to be in this category. To date, Prime and Plus BTO projects have not included five-room flats in their unit mix.

Perhaps most significantly, this is the first time we’ve seen a new HDB launch in the Pearl’s Hill / Chinatown area in more than 40 years.

There were more HDB housing here around the late ‘60s to early ‘70s, when the government redeveloped the area after demolishing the old Outram Prison.

A landmark HDB project back then was Outram Park Complex, which underwent the Selective En-Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) in 1998. The flats were demolished in 2003, and the site has been vacant since.

The urban environment around Pearl’s Hill has changed so much over 40 years that the experiences and lessons of former public housing here no longer apply. It will be a new frontier for public housing.

Still, this is bound to create a sense of deja vu if you were in the market when The Pinnacle @ Duxton launched.

There is some temptation to call this “another Pinnacle”, and to some, this label might carry some negative connotations. This is not because The Pinnacle @ Duxton is a bad project, quite the opposite: The Pinnacle @ Duxton is often used as an example of winning the so-called HDB ‘lottery’.

When The Pinnacle @ Duxton launched in 2004, four-room flats were priced at approximately $289,200 to $380,900, while five-room flats ranged from $345,100 to $439,400. At the time, those prices held the record for the highest average price for new HDB flats.

However, when the development completed its Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) and hit the resale market, the combination of its location, views, and its distinctive design began to set progressively higher resale price benchmarks in the resale HDB market.

Since then, the development has recorded numerous million-dollar HDB transactions, including a resale record of about $1.41 million for a four-room flat. A million dollars has effectively become the expected price for most of the higher-floor units here.

Eugene Lim, key executive officer of ERA Singapore, notes that the pricing for new BTO flats often takes reference from recent transactions of comparable resale flats in the vicinity. “Thus, significant subsidies are likely to be required for the upcoming BTO project at Pearl’s Hill,” he says.

Last year, average resale prices for four-room flats at Pinnacle @ Duxton were $1.36 million. Thus, substantial subsidies would need to be factored into the sale price to ensure affordability for eligible buyers, particularly when considering the BTO income ceiling of $14,000, as well as the typical savings and liquidity levels of BTO applicants, says Lim.

He adds that the future BTO project could come with a new and higher subsidy recovery (clawback) rate of 18-20%.

However, there are differences between the future BTO project on Pearl’s Hill and the resale performance of The Pinnacle @ Duxton.

For one, we’ve moved away from the long-held town-based classification framework to a location-based framework, which has given us the Prime, Plus, and Standard categories of BTO projects. The launch of The Pinnacle @ Duxton also came before the introduction of the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) in 2025.

While it’s often mistaken as a DBSS project, The Pinnacle @ Duxton doesn’t fall under this category. It is a unique one-off project.

In 2004, the policy levers at the government’s disposal to manage resale price expectations and ownership limitations of new central area flats were limited. Today, the government has tools like a 10-year MOP, subsidy recovery, and restrictions, such as not being able to rent out the entire flat.

These measures ensure that buyers are owner-occupiers, rather than those intending to use these flats as a ‘quick flip’, selling high to more quickly move into the private residential market.

While the classification for the Pearl’s Hill project has not yet been officially announced, the unit mix – plus its location next to Outram Park MRT and its proximity to the city centre – makes a Prime classification highly likely.

This does, however, have interesting resale implications for The Pinnacle @ Duxton.

Because Plus and Prime categories are not retroactively applied, The Pinnacle @ Duxton will not impose limitations like a 10-year MOP or an income ceiling on resale buyers. While this new 60-storey project is most certainly going to be subject to such constraints, The Pinnacle remains under the older and more flexible resale rules.

Under normal circumstances, having a new supply of flats means competition, and that should help to moderate prices in the area. But this may not be the case when Pinnacle remains on the resale market with no restrictions; flat owners at The Pinnacle can even rent out the whole flat.

The future Pearl’s Hill BTO project may exceed The Pinnacle in height and newness, but it transacts within a more restrictive set of rules. This will likely cause it to be closely studied on the day it enters the resale market.

That said, the upcoming Pearl’s Hill BTO will be a highly desirable public housing project.

Increasing housing supply in the Pearl’s Hill/Chinatown area will help to slow down the rate of price growth for HDB resale flats in this vicinity, making housing more affordable for those who wish to live closer to the downtown area, says Christine Sun, chief researcher & strategist of Realion (OrangeTee & ETC) Group.

“Eligible buyers will likely be attracted to these new BTO flats rather than resale options, as these flats are highly subsidised and well located with easy access to an MRT station and an upcoming shopping mall,” she says.

Indeed, the convenience of being next to a major MRT interchange like Outram Park is hard to replicate. Residents will also be within minutes of the CBD, Chinatown, and a wide range of amenities – most of which have only gotten better over the decades.

The main trade-offs are those typical of central districts. Open green spaces are more limited compared to fringe towns, and families prioritising school proximity may find fewer options nearby.

The Pearl’s Hill project may not replicate the exact story of Pinnacle @ Duxton, but we’re certain demand will remain strong.