In Singapore’s competitive property market, buyers often find themselves caught between their aspirations and crushing reality. Budget constraints often force…
A while back, we viewed Kingsville, a landed enclave in King’s Drive, Bukit Timah, which was of interest because of the properties’ leasehold status and thus lower price point. However, for many Singaporeans, buying a leasehold landed house makes no financial sense as (it is believed that) the value of a leasehold house decreases as time goes by.
I say “it is believed that” as, depending on your purchase price and time of purchase, there have been buyers who have made a profit with such transactions.) Moreover, unlike a leasehold condo, there is almost no chance of an en-bloc exit. If you liked what you saw at Kingsville but hold such a belief (and have deep pockets) the houses at Queen’s Road may be of interest to you. Literally a stone’s throw from Kingsville – they’re separated by just one road – but Queen’s Road is even more conveniently located, being located directly across from the Farrer Gardens/Queen’s Rd HDB estate and Farrer Road MRT. (As the HDB estate separates the MRT from the houses, the houses are still about a 10 minute walk from the MRT station.)
Here’s how close the 2 are to each other – the HDB blocks are on the left, and the landed houses are on the right. Besides the road, there’s also a small car park and canal of sorts separating the 2, so it doesn’t feel too crowded.
Unlike many other HDB estates, Farrer Gardens is on the quieter side. I’ve been a few times and never had an issue finding parking, so it’ll also be easy for your visitors to park. (Note that there is no street parking right outside the landed houses, as the road is a single-white-line-road. I actually prefer if this way, as it keeps the road clear and easy to drive through.)
Standing at the car park and looking at the houses (as you can observe), you can’t see very clearly into the houses, so they still have some privacy, despite being located across from high-rise blocks.Here’s a close-up to show you how wide the canal/drain is.As mentioned earlier, parking is abundant here – when I visited, there were over 150 empty lots.One reason this HDB estate feels quieter is probably because they’re lower density (for a HDB estate.) As you may have noticed, the blocks aren’t built very high, and there aren’t many of them. Moreover, they also help to serve as a noise and dust buffer for the landed houses. Here’s a review of the Farrer Gardens HDB estate – I didn’t hear any traffic noise when walking along the Queen’s Road houses either. You can practically count the number of floors on 2 hands.Another plus point of this HDB estate is that it has a lot of useful amenities, such as tuition centres, Bumbu Indonesian Restaurant, and the famous Westlake eatery. There’s also a fitness corner, which is handy as Queen’s Road doesn’t have its own playground. (Residents can also walk over to the large playground at Kingsville though, as it’s very close by.)
If the Farrer Gardens shops aren’t enough, there’s also Empress Road Market and Food Centre next door. (It’s not large, but more than sufficient for satisfying any cravings.) One downside of living in a landed estate or in Bukit Timah is that the nearby amenities can be on the pricier side. For example, the supermarkets at the nearby Coronation Shopping Plaza and Bukit Timah Plaza are both NTUC Finest. Having the Empress Road wet market at your doorstep can be a boon when it comes to keeping your grocery bills on the lower side, if you cook a lot and don’t have a car. (I saved quite a bit when I started going to wet markets to shop for greedygirlgourmet!)
First look at the houses here. As shown, they’re all on the larger side and mostly semi-Ds.Walking down to Bukit Timah Road, one of the 2 main roads that the Queen’s Road houses have access to. (The other is Farrer Road.) If you prefer taking the bus, on Bukit Timah Road you have access to buses 48, 67, 151, 153, 154, 156, 170, and 186. On the Farrer Road side, you also have 93, 165, 174, 855, 961, and 961M so you could technically get by without a car, living on Queens Road.Most of the houses here have not been rebuilt and are still in a 2-storey state.In front of the houses, there’s another smaller drain, which helps to also increase the setback between the HDB blocks and the houses.As many of the houses are still in vintage condition, several still have sizeable gardens to the side, so the houses don’t feel too squeezed together.Passing one of the tuition centers I mentioned earlier.One of the larger properties on the road.This is 1 of 3 streets that connects Queen’s Road to the rest of the Coronation area, making it very convenient to drive in and out, even during peak times. (You aren’t limited to just one vehicular entry and exit.)I also like how there are zebra crossings to make it easier to cross the road. (This could be because there are 2 schools within the estate. One is Nanyang Primary, to the left.)There wasn’t much through traffic when I visited, unlike over at Watten Estate, across the road.Some of the houses are so wide, I couldn’t fit it in one photograph frame.Passing the 2nd of the 3 through roads.To the right is the 2nd of the 2 schools that I mentioned earlier – St. Margaret’s Secondary.Next to St. Margaret’s is Coliwoo, a co-living residence. (If you’re wondering what staying at a co-living residence in Singapore is like, check out my experience here. Having just returned from a co-living residence in Copenhagen, I must say that the Singapore equivalents still have a lot of room for improvement!)Besides Coliwoo, there’s also the Asana condo, if you want to live here but can’t afford a landed house.However, one thing I have to point out is that there is a number of churches in this area: there’s Lutheran Church of our Redeemer along this junction and St John’s Chapel on Farrer Road. This could mean a lot of traffic on Sundays, so I’d suggest visiting then before making any permanent decisions. (Lutheran Church alone has 3 services on Sunday!)Signage for the St John’s Chapel I mentioned earlier.Next to the Lutheran Church and The Asana is Green Pastures Child Centre.After The Asana, the houses on the right of the road have a longer driveway. (These are the houses closer to Bukit Timah Road FYI.)This allows you extra space to park second and third cars.Unfortunately, it can also be tempting for visitors to the estate – I wonder how effective such a sign is…?Zooming out so you can see how many cars you can park. This is also one of the few stretches where you can find terrace houses in this landed estate.On the left of the road, the houses’ driveways are normal length. When we reach Bukit Timah Road, we find Crown Centre, and some shophouses, such as Atlas Coffehouse.Over at this block, you find a Japanese restaurant, cafe, Atlas Coffeehouse and a swim school.In Crown Centre, there’s an Italian restaurant, hair salon, pet store, and more. Walk past Crown Centre, and you’ll find an Anytime Fitness, Chicken rice shop, Penang eatery and Thai eatery. This is followed by Coronation Shopping Centre where you can find NTUC and European delis, so you can see you really have access to almost everything here!
This could be one of the reasons why residents are so happy living here. I couldn’t find any listings for sale at the time of writing.And, as shown, sales here are few and far between. The last sale was in 2023 and, before that, the previous sales were in 2021 and 2018.
This brings us to the end of today’s walkabout – how did you find the area? Let me know in the comments!
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TJ's interest in property was sparked after returning from the UK- where balconies are not counted in one's square footage!- and finding that the Singapore property had totally changed in the 7 years she was away. When not reading and watching articles & videos about property, she is busy cooking and baking for friends, family & her blog Greedygirlgourmet
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