Neighbourhood Of The Week: Queenstown (District 3)
Queenstown is the first satellite town in Singapore. The entire concept of having a “self-contained” township, with its own council, amenities away from the city, etc. It all started here, as far back as the 1950s.
In fact, Queenstown is the iconic “mature estate”, and Buona Vista and Holland V both imitated Queenstown as a template when they got started (this was way back in the 1970s). Also, the first estate ever rebuilt under the Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) is also in Queenstown, since it has some of the oldest flats built by HDB.
Today, Queenstown is famous for its pricey, but much desired HDB flats. Haw Par Villa and Alexandra Hospital are both here by the way, as are the head offices of Grab and Razer.
Facts about Queenstown
- District 3
- Approx. 20.43 km2
- Est. population of 96,340 in 2019, with density of around 4,717 per km2 (considered low, as average density in Singapore is 8,358 per km2)
- Commonwealth, Dover, Kent Ridge, Ghim Moh, One-North, and Tanglin Halt are all subzones of Queenstown
Primary Schools
- Fairfield Methodist School
- New Town Primary School
- Queenstown Primary School
Secondary Schools
- Anglo-Chinese School
- Fairfield Methodist School
- New Town Secondary School
- Queenstown Secondary School
- Queensway Secondary School
Other Schools
- Anglo-Chinese Junior College
- Anglo-Chinese International School
- Management Development Institute of Singapore
- National University of Singapore
- Singapore Institute of Technology
- Singapore Polytechnic
- Dover Court International School
- Global Indian International School
- INSEAD
- Tanglin Trust School
- United World College
Malls
- Anchorpoint Shopping Centre
- IKEA Alexandra
- Queensway Shopping Centre
- Star Vista
MRT station(s)
- Queenstown
- Commonwealth
- Buona Vista
- Dover
- Holland Village
- One-North
- Kent Ridge
- Haw Par Villa
- Pasir Panjang
Average Flat Prices
Across the board, the average flat price in Queenstown in the past 6 months is $564 psf. This is a 6.6 per cent increase from $529 psf, over the past 10 years.
3-room flats
The average 3-room flat in Queenstown averages $470 psf. This is down 7.3 per cent from $507 psf, 10 years ago.
4-room flats
The average 4-room flat in Queenstown averages $652 psf. This is up 7.7 per cent from $605 psf, 10 years ago.
5-room flats
The average 5-room flat in Queenstown averages $662 psf. This is up 20.6 per cent from $549 psf, 10 years ago.
Overall Non-Landed Private Residential Prices in District 3
Average condo prices in District 3 (Alexandra, Commonwealth, Queenstown) average $2,012 psf in the last 6 months, up around 73.1 per cent from $1,162 psf 10 years ago.
Top 10 Projects Ranked By Capital Gain
| Project Name | Tenure | Completion | Capital Gain (%) | Historical Price ($PSF) | Current Price ($PSF) |
| Eng Hoon Mansions | Freehold | 2005 | 79.9 | 628 | 1,130 |
| Clydesview | Freehold | 1991 | 50.2 | 829 | 1,245 |
| Regency at Tiong Bahru | Freehold | 2010 | 46.3 | 1,378 | 2,016 |
| Regency Suites | Freehold | 2008 | 43.1 | 1,328 | 1,900 |
| The Anchorage | Freehold | 1997 | 39.3 | 1,053 | 1,467 |
| Queensway Tower | Freehold | 1976 | 37.9 | 704 | 971 |
| Emerald Park | 99 yrs | 1993 | 31.1 | 970 | 1,272 |
| Alexis | Freehold | 2012 | 27.3 | 1,401 | 1,783 |
| Twin Regency | Freehold | 2007 | 25.2 | 1,438 | 1,801 |
| Central Green Condominium | 99 yrs | 1995 | 23.2 | 1,056 | 1,301 |
Bottom 10 Projects Ranked By Capital Gain
| Project Name | Tenure | Completion | Capital Gain (%) | Historical Price ($PSF) | Current Price ($PSF) |
| River Place | 99 yrs | 1999 | 1.9 | 1,276 | 1,300 |
| Tanglin View | 99 yrs | 2001 | 7.6 | 1,204 | 1,296 |
| Ascentia Sky | 99 yrs | 2013 | 8.2 | 1,311 | 1,419 |
| Meraprime | 99 yrs | 2006 | 9.5 | 1,287 | 1,409 |
| Queens | 99 yrs | 2002 | 11 | 1,073 | 1,191 |
| Alessandrea | Freehold | 2003 | 20.9 | 1,153 | 1,394 |
| The Metropolitan Condominium | 99 yrs | 2009 | 22.8 | 1,230 | 1,511 |
| Domain 21 | 99 yrs | 2007 | 23 | 1,272 | 1,565 |
| Central Green Condominium | 99 yrs | 1995 | 23.2 | 1,056 | 1,301 |
| Twin Regency | Freehold | 2007 | 25.2 | 1,438 | 1,801 |
Top 10 Projects Ranked By Rental Yield
| Project Name | Tenure | Completion | Gross Yield (%) |
| Eng Hoon Mansions | Freehold | 2005 | 4 |
| Meraprime | 99 yrs | 2006 | 3.9 |
| River Place | 99 yrs | 1999 | 3.4 |
| Queens | 99 yrs | 2002 | 3.4 |
| Echelon | 99 yrs | 2016 | 3.4 |
| Domain 21 | 99 yrs | 2007 | 3.4 |
| Alex Residences | 99 yrs | 2017 | 3.3 |
| Highline Residences | 99 yrs | 2018 | 3.2 |
| Ascentia Sky | 99 yrs | 2013 | 3.2 |
| Principal Garden | 99 yrs | 2018 | 3.2 |
Key drivers to note:
- One-North is a thriving tech and media hub
- Tertiary education institutes help maintain strong demand here
- More new flats are expected in Queenstown by 2027
1. One-North is a thriving tech and media hub
With the emergence of Fusionopolis, Mediapolis, and Biopolis, and the MediaCorp campus, One -North is now a hotspot for tech and media. The 200-hectare district is also home to some of the biggest R&D names in Singapore, such as A*Star labs, and ST Engineering (via the Innosparks Open Innovation Lab).
This cluster of companies also brings in foreign entrepreneurs and tech talent. However, look at the map of private residential properties, and you’ll see options are woefully limited in One-North itself (apart from One-North Residences). This leaves prospective tenants to seek out surrounding options, such as properties in the Buona Vista area, or Holland V.
The presence of One-North has heightened rentability in many of the surrounding areas, although it’s to be seen if Covid-19 will change this.
2. Tertiary education institutes help maintain strong demand here
As you can see from our list above, there are a huge number of educational institutes in Queenstown. The major presences, however, are the NUS, Singapore Polytechnic, and MDIS.
This has long made Queenstown a rental hotspot for students, all the way up to properties near One-North (where the condos are popular rental choices for INSEAD students).
Again, we’ve yet to see if Covid-19 could change this; but landlords willing to rent to student tenants will find no shortage of demand here. Rental yield is not significantly higher than most parts of Singapore (around three per cent per annum across the board), but landlords can see high rentability with few vacancies.
3. More new flats are expected in Queenstown in 2027
HDB plans for some 5,000 new flats in Queenstown, by the year 2027. The first batches of new flats could be launched as early as 2021 or 2022.
Expect these to be oversubscribed, and even contentious – such a launch will push the conversation on whether it’s “fair” that some applicants can get flats in hotspots like Queenstown (it’s the equivalent of winning the HDB lottery). As such, we would expect BTO launches here – when they come – to be among the most expensive.
It is debatable whether the launch of new flats in Queenstown will affect the existing resale flat values. We have split opinions from the experts we asked.
Some analysts and agents expressed that more flats will prevent the (already high) resale prices in Queenstown from climbing further. However, we’ve also heard opinions that the effect will be negligible, as those who buy resale flats are those who can’t buy BTO flats anyway (e.g. permanent resident families who don’t qualify for BTO, buyers who bust the income ceiling, those who can’t wait for construction, etc.)
It’s a little early to speculate; but brace yourself for the roaring demand if BTO flats are launched here.
In the meantime, you can check out the top properties in Queenstown and other areas by following us on Stacked Homes.
At Stacked, we like to look beyond the headlines and surface-level numbers, and focus on how things play out in the real world.
If you’d like to discuss how this applies to your own circumstances, you can reach out for a one-to-one consultation here.
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