How Have Older Leasehold Condos Performed Compared To Newer Ones? A Case Study Of The Tanamera

The Tanamera is a bit notorious for en-bloc tensions, even making into the newspaper back in 2023. This project is close to the recent integrated project Secenca Residence, and many would consider it a strong location: the nearby Tanah Merah MRT station is, after all, the point at which the East-West Line connects to Changi Airport. So why then is The Tanamera seeing a rather weak performance in resale markets? Is it just age or are there other factors? Let’s take a deep dive:

A quick profile of The Tanamera

The Tanamera is a 99-year leasehold condo located along Tanah Merah Kechil Road, completed in 1994. With 288 units, it’s one of the older developments within walking distance of Tanah Merah MRT (EWL). 

While the immediate surroundings have lacked amenities for many years, this is going to change soon: the nearby Sceneca Residence, once completed, will introduce a commercial component that also has a supermarket, among other conveniences. 

One important factor to note is the three en-bloc attempts that have been made for The Tanamera

While we cannot directly quantify the effect on the condo’s performance, en-bloc attempts can impact buyer decisions in two ways:

First, some buyers may choose to purchase units precisely because they anticipate an en-bloc sale. These are speculative buyers who are hoping for a windfall when the collective sale happens. 

Second, en-bloc attempts – especially those near success – may put off buyers. Pure homebuyers will see this as a risk, as they don’t want to have to move again, right after buying and renovating a new unit.

We have not heard of any fourth en-bloc attempt, at the time we’re writing this. We also need to caution you that, where en-bloc attempts get heated, you may find more complaints online about how a condo is “badly maintained and needs to be sold off,” even if it’s not particularly true. 

This caveat aside, let’s get into the details:

Comparing The Tanamera to island-wide prices

2-bedroom units

Average price

Average size

3-bedroom units

Average price

Average size

Between 2016 and 2024, The Tanamera has fallen behind the islandwide average in terms of price movement: it was 24.76 per cent lower than average for two-bedders in 2016, with the disparity widening slightly to about 27 per cent by 2024. 

A similar trend is observed for three-bedders, where the price gap expanded from 12.57 per cent to 18.7 per cent over the same period. On average, the price disparity has grown by about 4.2 per cent across both unit types.

Although it’s a ‘90s-era condo, unit sizes at The Tanamera are not much bigger than average. Its two-bedders average 952 sq.ft., or about 16.6 per cent larger than Singapore’s average of 816 sq.ft. Spacious, but not a huge difference. 

The three-bedders at The Tanamera are at 1,462 sq.ft. versus the market average of 1,196 sq.ft. (about a 20 per cent difference.) It’s a tangible difference but once again, not as large a disparity as we often see with older projects. 

Next, let’s look at The Tanamera as compared to surrounding projects

This is where things get interesting, because the area around Tanah Merah is packed with multiple condo projects. One major concern is that all of these projects are within walking distance to Tanah Merah MRT station. While The Tanamera may be a shorter walk than some, it still means its proximity to the train station is significantly diminished as an advantage. 

Here are the unit counts and completion dates for the projects (the new Sceneca Residence is still under construction as we write this) 

Here are the price comparisons based on unit sizes:

Average 2-bedroom sizes and prices

*As there are missing data for some projects, we will just look at those with data in both 2016 and 2024

Average 3-bedroom sizes and prices

*As there are missing data for some projects, we will just look at those with data in both 2016 and 2024

*Regarding Bedok Court, note that the unusually huge units are due to an uncommon indoor / outdoor blending of garden spaces and living spaces, such that the floor area incorporates part of the outdoors as large Private Enclosed Spaces. We covered Bedok Court’s unique layout in this article. 

From 2016 to 2024, The Tanamera’s price gap with neighbouring developments has generally widened, even as many of the other projects have seen their prices converge.

Casa Merah, Optima, and The Glades were priced 11.7 to 26.2 per cent higher than Tanamera back in 2016; but by 2024, the table above shows the premium narrowed; and The Glades actually fell four per cent below Tanamera’s average price. 

ECO bucked the trend, with its two-bedders being 20.2 per cent above Tanamera, but rising even higher to 26.3 per cent in 2024. Overall, for two-bedders, it looks like Tanamera became more competitive against all neighbours except ECO, which is outperforming in this location.

(This is likely due to ECO being just around seven years old in 2024, thus being the “new” condo of the area. This will change when Sceneca is complete.)

For three-bedders, the price gap widened against older projects like Bedok Court and East Meadows; but at the same time, Stratford Court and The Glades, with their more compact layouts, saw their pricing draw closer to (or in The Glades’ case, slightly exceed) The Tanamera’s. Overall, Casa Merah, Optima, and Bedok Court outperformed The Tanamera, with prices averaging 14 per cent to 39 per cent higher in 2024.

The Tanamera is a bit worse off than the other old condos (Bedok Court and East Meadows) because, whilst it shares the same age and locational issues, it doesn’t have the size of Bedok Court or East Meadows. And again, Bedok Court has a rather unique layout that’s hard to match, regardless of age.

The end result is that The Tanamera is sausaged between larger old projects on one end, and newer projects with less lease decay on the other. Without a distinct price or size advantage, it’s being overshadowed by both.

Now let’s look at some floor plan comparisons, which could shed more light

We’re going to make comparisons based on projects that cost around the same as The Tanamera. We’ll start with two-bedder units, comparing The Tanamera to The Glades:

Despite being completed 22 years later (!) The Glades’ two-bedders transacted for only around four per cent less than Tanamera in 2024. For this sort of price and age, a lot would be demanded of Tanamera’s layout, going beyond more square footage.

For this, Tanamera offers two strong points: first, a two-bed, two-bathroom unit, as opposed to The Glades’ single bathroom. The extra bathroom matters especially to landlords, as it makes a huge difference when you have two unrelated tenants (and most family units want at least two bathrooms.) 

The second is that The Tanamera offers an enclosed kitchen with a separate yard, which is preferred by serious home cooks. 

We’d say Tanamera has the better layout here, which may be why the price gap with The Glades is so low despite the tremendous age difference. 

Three-bedder units

The Tanamera uses its extra space (1,518 versus 990 sq.ft. ) to incorporate a powder room and a service yard in the kitchen. We would also consider the older Tanamera to have a more efficient layout, doing away with the corridor space in The Glades. However, some homeowners may like The Glades’ Type C2 Option, with the front door opening into a small foyer rather than directly into the living room. 

Also note the Jack-and-Jill bathroom in Tanamera, that effectively gives all bedrooms ensuite access.

The balcony is arguably a drawback for the Tanamera here: a bit small to be of real practical use, and hence a bit of wasted space. 

Nonetheless, the price gap with The Glades is only 0.5 per cent. This is, again, phenomenal considering the age gap; and it’s a credit to the layout design for Tanamera.

Four-bedder units

The point of comparison here is Stratford Court, and honestly both are almost neck-and-neck in terms of livability and efficiency. Both have good squarish rooms, enclosable kitchens with service yards, and a good degree of spaciousness. But Tanamera is simply larger, has an additional powder room, and a Jack-and-Jill common bathroom, which offers ensuite access for both common bedrooms.

And once again, there’s almost no hallway space in The Tanamera, unlike the corridor to the Master Bedroom in Stratford Court. 

We can see Stratford Court’s four-bedders transacted for slightly (two per cent) less than Tanamera, despite being around four years younger; so again we can see Tanamera’s solid layout hold its ground.

Let’s also look at East Meadows, which provides a close price match to Tanamera in the four-bedder category

East Meadows has an odd jutting corner in its living space; likely to maximise the view and natural ventilation. Some homeowners dislike this however, as it can result in odd furniture placement (but to their credit, at least they didn’t make it rounded.) 

There is again a corridor space leading to the bedrooms that could be avoided; and it doesn’t have Tanamera’s extra powder room and Jack-and-Jill bathroom configuration. We would again say Tanamera’s layout is better, and we can see East Meadows’ four-bedders transacting at four per cent less despite being eight years younger. 

We can conclude that layout is not the reason for the Tanamera falling behind. In most cases, its layout is comparable or even superior to some newer counterparts. If there is a reason for The Tanamera to be trailing in gains, it’s likely due to our earlier explanation (see above), rather than due to older layouts.

Now let’s look at The Tanamera’s performance compared to Bedok in general

From 2016 to 2024, The Tanamera’s annualised price growth was 3.93 per cent, compared to 5.44 per cent for all 99-year leasehold condos in Bedok. This indicates that The Tanamera has technically underperformed its immediate market; but if we acknowledge its age, this is still a somewhat acceptable performance. 

Widening the lens to the entire OCR, most towns saw annualised growth between five per cent and seven per cent, with Bedok sitting mid-pack at 6.15 per cent. In contrast, The Tanamera’s growth lags behind every single OCR planning area, except Woodlands (4.34 per cent) and Sembawang (4.21 per cent). 

This suggests that while The Tanamera hasn’t completely stalled, its pace of growth has clearly fallen behind: not just within Bedok, but across the OCR. Given its advancing age and growing competition from both older, larger developments and newer, more compact ones, The Tanamera sits in a challenging middle ground. Its performance might remain muted, unless there’s a big market shift and buyers begin to re-evaluate its efficient, large-format layouts. 

There is a bit of good news regarding resale volumes and turnover though

Unit supply in Bedok

No. of resale transactions in Bedok in recent years

Despite having far fewer units in circulation, larger unit types in Bedok – particularly four and five-bedders – are seeing higher turnover rates. In 2024, about 6.7 per cent of five-bedders and 6.2 per cent of four-bedders were sold on the resale market, compared to just 3.7 per cent for one and two-bedders. 

This suggests a growing demand for larger homes in Bedok, which is a primarily family-area with HDB upgraders.  That could bode well for older developments like The Tanamera, which offer solid layouts and unit sizes at lower prices.

Now let’s look at rental yields for The Tanamera and its surroundings

2-bedroom units

3-bedroom units

Although average rents have increased for both unit types at The Tanamera, rising purchase prices have offset much of the rental upside. 

For two-bedder units, the yield has improved slightly, from 3.63 per cent in 2016 to 3.85 per cent in 2024. In contrast, three-bedder yields have dipped slightly, from 3.21 per cent to 3.14 per cent, as price growth outpaced rental gains. This suggests that while both unit types remain rentable, two-bedders currently offer a more efficient return on investment.

Rental yield of other condos in the vicinity (in 2024)

2-bedroom units

3-bedroom units

With a yield of 3.85 per cent for two-bedders, Tanamera outperforms most of its peers in the vicinity, barely trailingThe Glades (3.94 per cent). One factor with rental is that tenants care far less about lease decay than buyers, so the combination of larger unit sizes and lower prices helps to keep rental returns healthy.

For three-bedders, however, The Tanamera has a somewhat weaker yield of 3.14 per cent. This puts it behind nearby projects like ECO (3.43 per cent), East Meadows (3.42 per cent), and Casa Merah (3.27 per cent). Its performance here is more in line with the lowest-yielding condos in the area, such as Urban Vista and Bedok Court. This is really just a matter of larger units and higher quantums though, which lower the gross yield. 

Overall, The Tanamera’s two-bedders remain attractive to landlords seeking yields, but anything larger is more for owner-occupiers. 

Conclusion:

From 2016 to 2024, the price gap between The Tanamera and other non-landed private properties has widened by an average of 4.2 per cent, reflecting slowing capital appreciation. As we mentioned earlier, this is due to its difficult middle-ground between larger, older units, and smaller newer units with less lease decay. 

For homeowners The Tanamera still offers a strong case, with its larger and well-crafted layouts. In a market where newer and more facility-rich options are available at similar prices, it does lose some of its sheen; but for those seeking spaciousness and convenience (especially with Sceneca Residence contributing a mall soon), this could be an undervalued option.

What’s difficult to quantify is the en-bloc risk, which dangles over this condo like the proverbial sword of Damocles. This is a factor that’s frustratingly hard to quantify, and is a further potential risk to buyers. 

The challenge with older condos like The Tanamera isn’t just lease decay, it’s the difficult position they occupy between newer, compact units and much older developments with clearer en-bloc upside.

Too many buyers overlook this segment because capital appreciation has slowed, but as we’ve shown, there’s still a framework for uncovering value, especially for those who prioritise space, rental yield, and long-term liveability.

At Stacked, we’ve applied this exact approach to help buyers weigh trade-offs between space, age, and location – and in the right context, condos like The Tanamera can still make strategic sense.

Curious how this applies to your situation? Let’s chat.

Next we’ll look at case studies of Loyang Valley and The Arcadia, so join us on Stacked Pro if you’re considering an older leasehold condo.