We Found a Quiet Enclave in Novena With a Rare Balance of Landed Privacy and City Access, From $15.7M

A few weeks back, we visited the landed houses on Dyson Road. One reader commented on the proximity of the houses to high rise condominiums and thus the lack of privacy (in his opinion, at least. I’ll show you a photo of Dyson Road below so you can judge for yourself. Alternatively, you can also click the first link to get a feel of the area.) Hence, I thought we’d explore the neighbourhood a bit further and see what the other houses are like.

Today, we’re heading to Jalan Merlimau which is the road adjoining Dyson Road. It’s actually located closer to the main road (Thomson Road) and thus closer to amenities: namely, the restaurants in the Thomson Road shophouses, Novena MRT, the Novena shopping malls such as Velocity@Novena Square etc.

Here is a photo of some of the restaurants you can find at the Thomson Road shophouses- there is a good mix of local and international food here. The only thing that’s missing, in my opinion, is a supermarket, which you can find over at the Novena malls. (The Thomson shophouses would be the closest amenities to the Jalan Merlimau houses as you would need to cross a very busy, very broad road to get to the Novena shopping centres.)

Above is a screenshot of Google Maps for your reference. As you can see, Jalan Merlimau is a bit of a winding road which splits into a fork as it approaches Dyson Road.

As promised, here’s the photo of the houses on Dyson Road and the condominiums behind.

As you can see, the road here is very winding. At the Dyson Road- Jalan Merlimau “junction”, you find a low-rise condominium on one side (The Thomson Duplex- the entrance is located on another road though.)

Part of the road allows for street side parking (where you see the dotted white line) while park of it does not (where you see the single white line.)

I like how clear the road is (no usage of dustbins to reserve parking spaces) as it is a sign that there are less likely to be parking issues here and that it’s easier to drive through the estate. (Another sign is the size of the houses- larger houses often have larger car porches so less need to park on the roadside.)

See what I mean about the size of the houses and parking spaces? (Dyson Road, if you may recall, has terraced houses (albeit large ones) which we don’t find here. As far as I could tell, it’s semi detached and detached units over on Jalan Merlimau.)

Look at that long driveway (some buyers aren’t keen on such features though, as they consider it a “waste” of potential internal space.)

Here we’re at a junction. The road splits to the right (a dead end) and to the left (which leads on to Thomson Road.) Both sides are named Jalan Merlimau. There are only about 3 houses to the right so let’s take the path to the left first.

It’s interesting how the parking lines have changed to yellow ones here. We are closer to the Thomson shophouses though, so perhaps it’s to prevent customers from parking here?

On the left, you can see how the new and old houses here compare. The houses closer to us have been rebuilt and quite dwarf their older neighbours.

Another of the rebuilt houses in the area. Behind, you can see the Novena high-rises (more specifically the Marriot hotel.)

Ahead is the apartment Novena Lodge. The entrance/ exit is on Jalan Merlimau, so this would affect the number of cars on the road. To the right is the junction with the main Thomson Road, and there might be a queue to enter and exit during peak hours. Thankfully it only has 66 units so the road situation shouldn’t be too bad.

From here we can look right out to the main Thomson Road. There has been heavy construction in this area for yeeearrrrrrrs. I couldn’t hear the construction when I was standing inside Jalan Merlimau but I must confess to dreading having to drive down Thomson Road due to the construction mess.

We’ve viewed Thomson Road a number of times in previous walkabouts so let’s head back now to see the rest of Jalan Merlimau.

This is the junction we passed previously. Behind us is the road we took down to Thomson Road and in front of us is the cul-de-sac that we’ve not seen yet.

There aren’t many units here so this would probably be the most private part of Jalan Merlimau. (Since it’s a cul-de-sac you probably wouldn’t get any through traffic too.)

Looking back in the direction from which we came. We’ve actually seen the entire stretch of Jalan Merlimau now! Personally, although Jalan Merlimau has larger houses, I actually found Dyson Road more spacious- maybe because Dyson Road is a straight-ish road whilst Jalan Merlimau is so winding?

Not to mention the fact that Jalan Merlimau is home to an apartment entrance and is nearer the main road. (Great for people taking public transport but less ideal if you’re concerned about street noise and dust, especially with the Thomson Road construction ongoing.)

Since we’re on the subject of public transport, it’s about a 12 minute walk to Novena MRT from the middle of Jalan Merlimau. Not too far but it feels much longer as the walk isn’t the most pleasant, thanks to the construction. (There’s also no shaded walkway FYI.) You’re also well served by buses and can find 12 different buses stopping on Thomson Road: 5, 21, 54, 56, 57, 131, 141, 143, 166 167, 851 and 980.

If you’re wondering about house prices- houses here don’t come cheap! It seems like residents here must be quite happy in this neighbourhood- or waiting to see fi prices will rise further once the construction finishes- as sales in this neighbourhood are not common. The last sale was in 2023- for $15.7 million! And they don’t occur every year- there was no sale in 2021, 2019, or 2018 for example.

Now for the question on most parents’ minds- how about schools? It’s no secret this area is popular for its proximity to famous schools and Jalan Merlimau is no exception. Some houses are within 1km of Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) and St. Joseph’s Institution Junior, with a further 7 Primary Schools within 1-2km. (Close for commuting but not close enough to meet the Primary School admission criteria.)

Now that you’ve seen both Dyson Road and Jalan Merlimau, let me know what you think of the 2 landed enclaves in the comments!