Do Newer Condos Near MRT In District 19 Yield Better Rents?

This week, our ongoing look at Singapore’s rental market is narrowing to a single district again, and District 19 is a useful one to pick apart three assumptions at once.

District 19 covers Serangoon, Kovan, Hougang, Sengkang and Punggol. This is a bit of an unusual cluster: it has some of Singapore’s largest condos, a very heavy concentration of Executive Condominiums (ECs), and multiple MRT stations along the North-East Line (NEL). Meanwhile Serangoon is also aCircle Line (CCL) interchange.

This sets up three main questions: whether a bigger development gets more rent, whether an EC out-earns a comparable private condo, and whether being near the MRT is worth the premium.

We kept the same eligibility rule as the rest of this series: at least 10 registered rental contracts, five resale transactions, and a Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) of at least 24 months, all within the same 12-month window. 

District 19’s tenant pool is a mix of locals and expatriates. Expatriate demand comes partly from professionals working at the nearby Punggol Digital District, and partly from families drawn to international schools such as the Global Indian International School’s SMART Campus and One World International School’s Digital Campus. 

Note: As before, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)’s rental data doesn’t disclose floor level, facing, renovation quality or furnishings. Every figure below is a project-level average, rather than the expected return on any one unit.