5 Property Hotspots In Singapore You Did Not Know Were Built Over Graveyards

As a Stacked reader so memorably said to us once: “If we don’t have room for golf and flats, we definitely don’t have room just to bury people in.” Singapore isn’t shy about building over graveyards anymore – at least not today (despite some definite taboos in our grandparents’ day). In fact, some of our most desirable property hotspots – including Bidadari, Bishan, Queenstown, Tiong Bahru, and Orchard – were once rows of headstones in the earth. In light of the current season, we’re taking a look at these areas and how they came to be:

First, a quick note on the graveyard/property hotspot correlation

It’s a little counterintuitive, and runs contrary to our instinct: why would a former graveyard end up being a successful and coveted estate? It’s practically the first rule of horror movies that “recycled = haunted,” so the connotations are strong. 

But there’s a reason hotspots like Bishan, Bidadari, Tiong Bahru, Queenstown, and Orchard all had cemeteries worth clearing. The fact is, graveyards were almost always located on good land just outside the old city core. 

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, authorities wanted cemeteries close enough for mourners, but not inside overcrowded towns. The results were large, relatively central or city fringe tracts. Fast forward to post-war Singapore, when housing demand was exploding, and those graveyards became ready-made land banks: they were big, undeveloped spaces in areas that were often too dense to accommodate new construction. 

(Also, en-bloc consent was really easy to get from those residents…)

None of this is unique to Singapore. It’s a commonly repeated pattern involving graveyards, found in city planning all over the world. 

Paris cleared the Cimetière des Innocents in the 1780s and turned it into a bustling market (today’s Les Halles). London converted old parish graveyards into leafy squares, and dug up St. Pancras churchyard to make way for the railway terminus – now one of the priciest zones in the city. 

New York City paved over potter’s fields to create Washington Square Park and Bryant Park, and both are surrounded by multi-million-dollar properties. Even Hong Kong and Tokyo have shifted old cemeteries, cities that also fall under the umbrella of Asia cultures. 

So it’s not so much that the dead have blessed the land before moving, but more that the living can’t resist a prime spot when they see it. A flat or condo with a five-minute walk to the MRT is worth it; even if it might mean meeting the occasional passenger without a reflection. 

Let’s take a look at these former sites, then and now:

Bidadari

Bidadari was a massive multireligious cemetery, whose very name means “angel” in Malay. Bidadari Cemetery accepted burials of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and other faiths, although it’s estimated that about half the burials were Malay. It opened from 1st January 1908 to around 1972,  at which point it closed with 147,000 recorded graves. 

It also belonged to royalty at one point: the cemetery was built on the former Istana Bidadari, and was the estate of the Sultan of Johor’s wife.

Redevelopment rationale for Bidadari: 

In the 1990s, Singapore’s leaders noticed this 26-hectare plot of land that was (1) in a prime area of the city, and (2) was seriously under-utilised since, even as a cemetery, it had been closed for ages. This was a large swathe of Toa Payoh/Serangoon, which was too valuable to leave alone. 

So in 1996, the government announced that Bidadari would be cleared, and by the time of the 1998 Master Plan, its fate was sealed as land for development. Between 2001 and 2006, about 58,000 Christian and 68,000 Muslim graves were exhumed, and by 2006, all visible traces of the cemetery were gone. 

Did people put up a fight? Well, a bit. 

Bidadari wasn’t just any burial site; many prominent Singaporeans were buried there, and it had ecologically important rain trees and wildlife. Heritage buffs – and descendants of those buried there – weren’t thrilled about evicting thousands of ancestors. 

In response, authorities set aside a small Bidadari Memorial Garden in 2004, transplanting the old cemetery’s entrance gates and some tombstones of notable figures, like former Cabinet minister Ahmad Ibrahim. This is now in a corner of nearby Mount Vernon, to serve as a memorial. 

(No human remains are in that memorial park, by the way, it’s just symbolic structures and signage.) 

Today’s outcome

It’s amazing how quickly stigma fades when location and connectivity come into play. The first HDB flats  here, completed in 2020 and 2021, have already reached notable resale levels:

HDBs

Completed in 2020 and 2021 (Includes HDBs on Alkaff Crescent and Bidadari Park Drive)

Unit type	Average price
3-room	$811,667
4-room	$1,098,450
5-room	$1,291,294

Condos

The Woodleigh Residences (TOP 2023)

Unit type	Average price
2-bedder	$1,487,140
3-bedder	$2,370,426
4-bedder	$3,575,000

It’s also worth remembering that when these flats were launched, Bidadari set records as the most oversubscribed HDB projects in Singapore’s history. That early demand has translated into the resale market as well: the estate made headlines when a 3-room flat sold for $900,000, setting a new record.

Much of this appeal comes down to its connectivity: Bidadari sits right on the North-East Line at Woodleigh MRT, while also bordering the Circle Line at Potong Pasir and Bartley. It also enjoys direct arterial links via Upper Serangoon Road and the PIE. The Bidadari flats were also launched before we had Plus and Prime housing; so, as it reaches the end of its five-year MOP in 2025,  this former burial ground has ended up a massive windfall for some homeowners.

Bishan 

Bishan sits atop what used to be Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng, a sprawling Chinese burial ground founded in 1870 by Cantonese and Hakka clans. The name “Bishan” itself is the Mandarinization of “Peck San” (碧山), meaning “Jade Hills.” 

At its peak, Peck San Theng covered 384 acres (for reference, that’s about 314 football fields) and held over 100,000 graves. So, still less than the number of people trying to cram into Bishan Junction 8’s food court on weekends. 

This area was also residential at the time, but in an unofficial sense. An entire kampong (Kampong San Teng) thrived alongside it, populated by caretakers, grave diggers, and just people looking for an affordable place to shack up. 

Redevelopment 

 By the 1970s, Singapore’s housing planners had their eyes on Bishan’s choice central location. The government banned new burials in 1973 and acquired the land in 1979. Exhumation took place from 1983 to 1988, due to the sheer size of the area, and around 75,000 graves were exhumed to provide land for Bishan as a new town. 

Bishan was and is prime real estate: it sits on relatively high ground (good drainage), is near the city centre, and is conveniently next to the North-South MRT line that was being built in that era. In short, perfect spot for tens of thousands of living Singaporeans.

Compared to later controversies (like Bukit Brown in the 2010s), Bishan’s transition was relatively smooth.

It was more than likely due to our golden decade. Singapore reached developed nation status in 1988, so the ‘80s were a time of prosperity, practicality, and modern mindsets.  

Some family members showed up to claim and rebury their ancestors, but many remains simply went unclaimed. The clans that managed Peck San Theng negotiated to keep a sliver of land to build a columbarium, which still stands today: Peck San Theng Columbarium (opened 1986) is at the edge of Bishan, holding urns of 60,000+ departed. 

As for the villagers from  Kampong San Teng, many were relocated to modern flats in Ang Mo Kio. Good thing they couldn’t see the property price comparisons with Bishan today. 

As a bit of cultural resistance, perhaps, Bishan has been one of Singapore’s most famous ghost story locations for decades. Bishan MRT station, which opened in 1987, is often alleged to be the “main” MRT setting for Singapore ghost stories. 

Today’s outcome

HDBs

Completed in various years between 1985 – 2011 (Includes HDBs on Bishan Street 11, 12, 13, 22, 23, 24)

Unit type	Average price
3-room	$520,534
4-room	$767,020
5-room	$1,039,482
Executive	$1,249,308
Multi-Gen	$1,184,444

Condos

Bishan Loft (TOP 2003)

Unit type	Average price
3-bedder	$2,065,674
4-bedder	$2,465,333

Clover by the Park (TOP 2011)

Unit type	Average price
3-bedder	$2,500,231
4-bedder	$3,169,556

Sky Habitat (TOP 2015)

Unit type	Average price
1-bedder	$1,254,311
2-bedder	$1,923,464
3-bedder	$2,674,290
4-bedder	$3,692,500

Sky Vue (TOP 2016)

Unit type	Average price
1-bedder	$1,009,611
2-bedder	$1,528,125
3-bedder	$2,664,984

Bishan’s HDB flats, built largely between 1985 and 2011, now command strong resale prices, with several 5-room and executive flats managing to reach numbers like $1.18 million to $1.25 million. 

As for condos, the numbers are quite eye-opening; you can see from the table above that family-sized units can push well past a quantum of $2 million. Sky Habitat, incidentally, reflects on the degree of developer confidence in the 2010s: when it launched, it was one of the priciest non-CCR condos, and the developer had to relaunch it at lower prices to get it moving. 

Bishan is simply one of the best located neighbourhoods: it sits at the junction of the North-South and Circle MRT lines, while also being bounded by the CTE and PIE. On top of that, proximity to top schools such as Raffles Institution, Catholic High, and Ai Tong all add to Bishan’s appeal. The presence of Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, Junction 8, and established neighbourhood amenities rounds out the package.

Queenstown

Queenstown is Singapore’s first satellite HDB town, completed in the 1950s to 60s – but before that, the area was known by a less glamorous name: Boh Beh Kang.

That’s Hokkien for “No Tail River,” and back when the name was still in use (sometime in the early 20th century), it included a 17-hectare Chinese burial ground. This had an estimated 9,000 graves, and it was a pirate cemetery owned by businessman Cheang Hong Lim. (A lot of this comes from the linked blog above) 

If you picture Queenstown back then, it was something like one hill full of rubber trees, another hill full of tombstones, and a swampy valley of pig farms and huts all in between. Nothing close to the high-demand, thriving area it is today. 

Redevelopment 

This is where Queenstown becomes of revolutionary importance, because it’s the first HDB town that set the template for others to come. Queenstown is the mother of all HDB estates in Singapore, even if in subsequent decades we deviated from the template. 

After WWII, the British colonial authorities faced a housing crisis in Singapore. The 1947 Housing Committee decided Boh Beh Kang, despite its mucky terrain and graveyard, was an ideal site for a bold experiment in public housing. It’s also good to pretend many of the residents, who were impoverished farmers or squatters that could be driven off the land with a well-swung baton and $0, wasn’t another reason. 

By 1953, the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) announced plans for the new Queenstown estate, named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Over the next decade, the cemetery and the village were completely cleared. The British didn’t mess around: by 1956, construction was well underway on Princess Margaret Estate (the first section of Queenstown), and the burial hill was being levelled. We’ve also come across sources that say by 1968, they had fully exhumed the graves to make way for Mei Ling Estate. 

It helped that the descendants of the late Cheang Hong Lim cooperated – reportedly, the family gave or sold the cemetery for development, considering it a public good. Eng Watt Street and Moh Guan Terrace are named after some of the family members, perhaps in recognition of this. 

The project cost around $80 million (probably the GDP of a small country in that era) and aimed to house 70,000 people with modern amenities. By the 1960s, Queenstown had high-rise flats, a town centre, even a polyclinic and swimming complex, etc. This was a showpiece development, so any opposition was probably carefully recorded and then carefully ignored. 

Queenstown has very few ghost stories despite its history; mostly because it happened so long ago, and many Singaporeans aren’t even aware of it now.

Today’s outcome

Cemetery was bounded by Stirling, Queensway and Alexandra Road (https://myqueenstown.blogspot.com/2011/04/lost-found-myqueenstown-1-boh-beh-kang.html)

HDBs

Completed in various years between 1968 – 2000 (Includes HDBs on Stirling Road, Mei Ling St, Queen’s Close)

Unit type	Average price
3-room	$395,054
4-room	$712,564
5-room	$1,032,099
Executive	$1,307,389

Condos

The Anchorage (TOP 1997)

Unit type	Average price
2-bedder	$2,390,000
3-bedder	$3,062,429

Queens (TOP 2002)

Unit type	Average price
2-bedder	$1,600,000
3-bedder	$2,037,614
4-bedder	$2,463,629

Stirling Residences (TOP 2022)

Unit type	Average price
1-room	$1,124,440
2-room	$1,554,554
3-room	$2,388,548
4-room	$3,360,750

Queenstown is famous for setting HDB records, like this $1.658 million flat. HDB flats here, completed between 1968 and 2000, still see steady demand despite the lease decay. Even a humble 4-room flat will likely push past $710,000 here today. 

On the private side, we see older three-bedders pushing past $3 million, such as at The Anchorage; likely due to oversized layouts pushing up the quantum. Stirling Residences – one of the newer projects from 2022 – reaches $2.39 million for a three-bedder, and is a benchmark against which many nearby projects are compared. 

What sustains this demand is Queenstown’s location, just outside the CCR. It means short commutes to Orchard and the CBD. It’s served by Queenstown MRT on the East-West Line, with Alexandra Road and the AYE offering direct arterial access. 

The area is also close to employment nodes like One-North, Buona Vista, and the Alexandra business cluster, while being minutes from lifestyle spots such as Holland Village, Dempsey, and Gillman Barracks. 

Tiong Bahru

Often called the Williamsburg of Singapore, Tiong Bahru is a Hokkien-Malay hybrid term that literally means new cemetery. Very artisanal. 

Back in 1859, the Hokkien community established a new Chinese cemetery in the area (you see where the creative name comes from); an extension to an older cemetery called Tiong Lama, which is a Hokkien-Malay hybrid word for “old cemetery.” Creativity flowed back then. Tiong Lama was around the Outram area near SGH, and was already filled up at the time. 

At its peak in the late 19th century, Tiong Bahru saw about 500 burials a year; and it was rather haphazard. There were vegetable plots and huts interspersed between grave mounds and hillocks, and it was largely considered a slum area. 

Redevelopment 

Enter the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), on the same mission we saw at Queenstown: clear slums, house the people, and make something useful out of the whole necropolis of graves. So around 1927–1928, a large part of the Tiong Bahru cemetery was exhumed: tombs were flattened, swamps were filled, all to make room for SIT’s new apartments. 

By 1936, the first iconic curved, “Streamline Moderne” blocks were completed, and people started moving into what history buffs now laud as heritage architecture, and what Stacked calls inefficient layouts.

The rationale was both pragmatic and visionary: reduce overcrowding in Chinatown (which was bursting at the seams by then), eliminate a fire-prone squatter area, and create a modern residential zone near town. 

Clearing the cemetery was less controversial than it would have been, due to everyone being distracted by a small looming issue called World War II. After said war, SIT resumed and expanded Tiong Bahru in the 1948-50 period, clearing whatever graves might have been left in the surrounding bits.

Today, few people recall that the graves were even here, since this was all steamrolled by major world events. Many of the graves also belonged to impoverished immigrants with no family in Singapore; so there was no family to push back. 

Anyway, for people dealing with the poor slum conditions, SIT flats were like getting free luxury condos. Would you complain about a flat replacing your leaky hut next to a grave?  So if anything, locals were eager to move in, not fight about ghosts or inauspiciousness or heritage. 

Today’s outcome

HDBs

Completed in various years between 1975 – 2013 (Includes HDBs on Jalan Membina, Kim Tian Road, Kim Tian Place)

Unit type	Average price
2-room	$517,750
3-room	$648,961
4-room	$914,043
5-room	$1,085,771

Condos

Central Green (TOP 1995)

Unit type	Average price
2-bedder	$1,503,750
3-bedder	$2,287,986
4-bedder	$2,479,333

Twin Regency (TOP 2007)

Unit type	Average price
2-bedder	$2,120,000
3-bedder	$3,239,000
4-bedder	$4,048,000

Regency Suites (TOP 2008)

Unit type	Average price
2-bedder	$2,050,000
3-bedder	$3,200,000

The Regency (TOP 2010)

Unit type	Average price
2-bedder	$2,222,000

Highline Residences (TOP 2018)

Unit type	Average price
1-room	$1,155,027
2-room	$1,668,496
3-room	$2,489,717
4-room	$3,100,444

Tiong Bahru’s flats are a true “special case.” Many were completed across various waves between 1975 and 2013, and prices are astounding given the lease decay. You can see above that a 3-room flat will run close to $650,000, whilst a 4-room flat is around $914,000. 

Tiong Bahru is one of the estates where people openly question whether paying such high prices is sustainable, given the lease decay. This is counterbalanced by Tiong Bahru’s centrality and amenities. Many of the flats here are unique – they have layouts that you won’t find elsewhere, and tend to be much bigger. 

Condos in the area push values much higher. Central Green averages about $1.5 million just for a two-bedder, and $2.29 million for a three-bedder; and this is a condo that was built way back in 1995. The more recent Highline Residences (TOP 2018) manages to reach a quantum of $1.15 million just for its one-bedders, while three-bedders are almost around $2.5 million. 

For private condos, the premium is driven as much by lifestyle and branding as by hard fundamentals. The neighbourhood’s gentrification has brought artisanal cafes, yoga studios, and boutique shops, but the arrival of these higher-end businesses has also pushed out many older residents and traditional trades. 

Even so, demand remains robust. Tiong Bahru’s blend of proximity to the CBD, heritage architecture, and cultural cachet is enough to outweigh age concerns. It’s only one MRT stop from Outram Park interchange (serving the East-West, North-East, and Thomson-East Coast lines), and minutes by car to Orchard Road or the CBD. It’s also flanked by major roads like Lower Delta and Zion, giving residents multiple arterial routes east and west. 

On top of transport, Tiong Bahru enjoys adjacency to major lifestyle clusters: Great World City and Robertson Quay are within walking distance, while Tiong Bahru Plaza anchors the neighbourhood itself. 

Orchard

Finally, let’s talk Orchard Road – the glamorous shopping belt of Singapore, once even called an eighth wonder of the world, if you’re old enough to remember that. Long before Orchard got paved with Gucci and Prada, it was a plantation of pepper and fruit orchards, plus a massive cemetery owned by the Teochew community. 

The area around present-day Orchard Road and Paterson Road was known as Tai Shan Ting (in Teochew) or Thai Suah Teng (in Hokkien) – meaning “Great Mountain Pavilion,” all poetic names for a 72-acre cemetery with 25,000 to 30,000 graves. It was established in 1845 by Ngee Ann Kongsi, a Teochew clan, and was in use till around the 1950s. 

Redevelopment 

Post-war, the government recognised the need for more housing and the need to move away from small, scattered agri-businesses like the jumble of orchards in the area. So they struck a deal with Ngee Ann Kongsi to clear the cemetery. and use the land for development. 

Exhumation commenced in 1957, and many of the graves were reinterred at Yishun Memorial Park. There is a memorial tablet placed here, in commemoration of the dead from Tai Shan Ting. 

On the Orchard site, the first project was the 10-story Ngee Ann Building, opened in 1957. By the early ’70s, more of Orchard Road was filling with shops and hotels, and it was recognised that it was going to be a prime location for decades to come. Eventually, Ngee Ann Building itself was demolished in the 1980s to make way for the mega-mall Ngee Ann City, which opened in 1993. By that point, Orchard had become such a prime luxury location that very few people remembered the gravesites. 

If there is anything dark and terrifying here today, it’s the rental rate in Ngee Ann City..

Today’s outcome

Cemetery was bounded by Paterson, Orchard and Grange Road

Condos

Paterson Residence (TOP 2008)

Unit type	Average price
3-bedder	$3,503,600
4-bedder	$4,063,750
5-bedder	$9,500,000

The Orchard Residences (TOP 2010)

Unit type	Average price
3-bedder	$5,757,758
4-bedder	$9,143,333

Paterson Suites (TOP 2010)

Unit type	Average price
3-bedder	$4,900,000
4-bedder	$5,914,667

We don’t need to explain too much here, right? Since this is Orchard, the embodiment of prime luxury projects. There are no HDB flats here; just private homes. 

We can see family-sized units can push into the $4 million to $5 million range here, although Paterson Residences manages around $3.5 million for a three-bedder. Otherwise, projects like Paterson Suites can see even three-bedders coming close to $5 million. 

The locational advantages are obvious: for many Singaporeans, Orchard exemplifies the Core Central Region, located just minutes from the CBD and Marina Bay. It is the location that many Singaporeans, particularly those born in the ‘80s and ‘90s, associate with having “made it.” 

The area is surrounded by embassies, international schools, high-end amenities, and world-class shopping. In short, Orchard shifted from a burial ground to one of Asia’s most recognisable luxury addresses.

To be clear, there is a certain loss and a definite trade-off

Replacing cemeteries changes how people experience mourning; visiting the deceased has a very different feel when you can walk among the grave markers and feel the weight of their presence. 

Cremation niches, which may even be in air-conditioned columbariums, provide an entirely different environment from tending a grave under the sky.

Also, lack of physical burial shifts the way we think of our dead: do we handle death as tangible memory (needing physical space), or as data (photos, records, digital memorials)?

In land-tight countries like Singapore, the memory of the dead increasingly shifts online, while their physical remains are compressed into urns. But given the spatial restrictions we face, this transition may be necessary as well as inevitable.

If you’d like to get in touch for a more in-depth consultation, you can do so here.