8 Raja
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Overview & Key Facts
8 RAJA is a micro-boutique 26-unit residential tower occupying a slim site on Jalan Raja Udang, a quiet residential side-street off Balestier Road within the Novena–Balestier fringe of District 12 (Rest of Central Region). Developed by Popular Land Pte Ltd and designed by CPG Consultants — Studio R, the building rises 15 storeys with only two units per floor — a density profile that delivers the privacy of a landed home on a vertical footprint normally reserved for mass-market towers. Completion in 2013 places the building at a solid 13-year vintage: past the initial depreciation curve that punishes first-sellers in new launches, yet structurally modern in M&E, lift systems, and facade treatment.
The defining architectural gesture is scale mismatch — a slender high-rise silhouette on a small plot, delivering premium view corridors toward MacRitchie Reservoir, the low-rise Balestier heritage corridor, and the Novena medical cluster. Unit sizes start at a generous 1,572 sqft for 3-bedroom layouts and extend to 2,023 sqft for 4-bedroom dual-key and 5-bedroom configurations — genuinely large apartments by any current benchmark, and vastly more spacious than the 700–1,000 sqft 3-bedders typical of 2023–2025 launches. Transaction data shows a maturing price curve: PSF moved from approximately S$1,238 at earlier data points to a current 12-month average of S$1,597 psf, implying a median transacted price of roughly S$2.15 million for a ~1,346 sqft effective unit.
The ShiokNest composite score of 47/100 reflects deliberately honest trade-offs — a thin 8-sale transaction history in a 26-unit building, modest investment liquidity, and a 99-year tenure with approximately 86 years remaining — offset by the 99-year arbitrage opportunity: The Orie (99-year, 2024) in the same D12 micro-market trades at approximately S$2,730 psf, making 8 RAJA’s S$1,597 psf a 41% discount for a materially larger freehold-adjacent residential footprint. For buyers who understand the Novena–Balestier submarket and value large-format central-region living, 8 RAJA represents a rarely-found entry point.
Location & Connectivity
Jalan Raja Udang is a low-traffic residential street in the Balestier fringe of District 12, carved off Balestier Road and insulated from the commercial bustle by a buffer of older landed housing and strata apartments. The address delivers what is, in practical terms, one of the most rail-accessible locations in Singapore for a pre-TEL building: three MRT stations sit within 0.77–0.79 km, roughly equidistant and collectively serving four lines. Novena MRT (NS20, North-South Line) is approximately 0.77 km — a nine-minute walk via Jalan Raja Udang and Moulmein Rise. Toa Payoh MRT (NS19, North-South Line) is 0.79 km in the opposite direction. Mount Pleasant MRT (TE11, Thomson–East Coast Line) is also 0.79 km, adding TEL access toward Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay, and Woodlands without a transfer.
This three-station triangulation is genuinely unusual in Singapore’s MRT geography. Most addresses optimise for a single best station; 8 RAJA residents can choose the North-South Line for direct access to Orchard Road, City Hall, and Raffles Place, or pivot to the Thomson–East Coast Line for Shenton Way and Marina Bay. Caldecott MRT (CC17/TE9) is 1.18 km for Circle Line interchange capability. Over a 20-year holding period, this connectivity profile compounds in a way that is easy to underestimate at purchase.
For drivers, the Central Expressway (CTE) is accessible within three minutes via Moulmein Road, with the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) reachable in under five minutes via Thomson Road. Orchard Road is a 10–15 minute drive via Scotts Road or Thomson Road; Raffles Place is a 15-minute drive via the CTE. The Novena medical cluster — including Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Novena, and Thomson Medical Centre — is within 1.5 km.
Daily life on Balestier Road is a distinctive mix of heritage hawker food and steadily-gentrifying F&B. The Balestier Road bak kut teh trail, Whampoa Food Centre, and Shaw Plaza (Zhongshan Mall) sit within a 5–10 minute walk. United Square and Velocity @ Novena Square (1.3 km away) provide larger-format retail, groceries (NTUC FairPrice Finest, Cold Storage), and casual dining. For residents seeking green space, the MacRitchie Reservoir nature reserve is accessible within a 10-minute drive; closer to home, Whampoa Park Connector and Kallang Park Connector offer cycling and jogging corridors.
Schools & Education
1 primary school within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| New Town Primary School | primary | Within 1 km |
| St. Joseph's Institution | secondary | Within 1 km |
| Beatty Secondary School | secondary | ~1.2 km |
| CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace | primary | ~1.2 km |
| CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) | secondary | ~1.2 km |
| Nexus International School | international | ~1.3 km |
| School of Science and Technology | jc | ~1.3 km |
| Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School | secondary | ~1.3 km |
Facilities
For a 26-unit micro-boutique, 8 RAJA delivers a surprisingly ambitious facilities package. The architectural signature is the Sky Terrace — a rooftop deck incorporating an infinity pool, jacuzzi with jet spas, steam rooms, a sky patio, and a hanging gymnasium. By placing the wellness programme at the top of the 15-storey tower rather than at ground level, CPG Consultants’ design team extracts the view advantage: pool and jacuzzi users look out across the low-rise Balestier streetscape toward the Novena medical cluster and, on clear days, the distant Central Catchment canopy around MacRitchie Reservoir.
At 26 households, the facilities are effectively private-club scale. The infinity pool is rarely occupied by more than one or two residents at any given time; the steam rooms and jacuzzi function as near-private amenities. This is a qualitatively different ownership experience from the typical 300+ unit development where even a well-designed pool deck feels crowded on Saturday mornings. For buyers who value genuine use of the facilities they pay for in monthly maintenance, the 26-unit scale at 8 RAJA is the point.
“The Sky Terrace is the reason we bought here. Watching the sunset from the infinity pool with nobody else around — that’s an experience you can’t get at a 500-unit condo, no matter how fancy the marketing brochure is.”
— Owner commentary aggregated from PropertyGuru listings
The trade-offs follow the boutique profile honestly. There is no tennis court, no function room or clubhouse, no children’s playground, and no ground-level garden of meaningful scale — the small plot simply does not accommodate them. Security is standard rather than concierge-grade. For households with young children, the lack of a playground is a genuine limitation; the nearest public options are at Balestier Point or the Whampoa Park Connector. Maintenance fees, spread across only 26 units, tend to sit higher per-unit than mass-market peers — buyers should request the latest MCST statements and factor this into total cost of ownership.
Unit Sizes & Layout
8 RAJA’s unit mix is built around genuinely large floorplates — a characteristic that increasingly distinguishes it from the current new-launch generation where 3-bedroom units routinely compress to 700–900 sqft. The core configurations are 3-bedroom units at approximately 1,572 sqft, 4-bedroom dual-key layouts at 2,023 sqft, and 5-bedroom units at 2,023 sqft. Two units per floor means each apartment benefits from cross-ventilation, corner exposure, and meaningful view corridors that single-stack slab blocks simply cannot deliver.
The 1,572 sqft 3-bedroom format is the most pragmatic entry point. At the current 12-month average of S$1,597 psf, a 1,572 sqft unit transacts at approximately S$2.51 million — a meaningful headline number, but one that resolves favourably on a size-adjusted basis versus equivalent layouts in newer D12/D11 launches where comparable 3-bedders trade at S$2,600–2,800 psf and typically deliver only 1,100–1,300 sqft. Put differently: buyers at 8 RAJA are paying for materially more liveable square footage per dollar than the current market offers on fresh leases.
The 4-bedroom dual-key configurations are worth a distinct mention. Dual-key units partition the apartment into a main residence and a self-contained studio accessible from a separate entrance — a layout originally designed for multi-generational living, now equally valued for its optionality between family use and sub-letting. At 2,023 sqft, these units offer flexibility that is effectively extinct in current new-launch supply: developers in 2024–2025 have largely stopped building dual-keys at this size because land cost no longer supports the floorplate efficiency. For a buyer who wants the structural flexibility of dual-key in a central-region address, the inventory at 8 RAJA is part of a shrinking pool.
Ceiling heights are 2013-standard (approximately 2.85–3.0 metres) rather than the marketing-driven 3.2-metre profiles of newer launches, and kitchen/bathroom specifications are of their era — functional, well-built, but likely to benefit from a selective renovation refresh. Budget S$80,000–150,000 for a mid-range interior update on a 1,572 sqft unit; larger 2,023 sqft layouts may absorb S$150,000–250,000 depending on finish level.
| Bedrooms | Transactions | Avg PSF | Avg Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 BR | 6 | $1,284 | $2,018,333 |
| 5 BR | 2 | $1,280 | $2,590,000 |
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 8 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $1,800,000 to $2,680,000, averaging $2,161,250 (~$1,597 psf).
Rents range from $4,350 to $6,000 per month across 5 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 3.1%.
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2025, the average PSF has appreciated by 29% (from $1,238 to $1,597 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
8 RAJA’s peer set in the Novena–Balestier–Toa Payoh submarket splits into two distinct valuation cohorts. The leasehold peers — Gem Residences (99-year, 2015, S$1,832 psf), Trevista (99-year, 2008, S$1,698 psf), and Eight Riversuites (99-year, 2011, S$1,642 psf) — sit at meaningfully larger scales (500–900+ units) and deliver full facilities programmes (tennis courts, function rooms, clubhouses, 50-metre pools). At S$1,597 psf, 8 RAJA undercuts all three on headline psf, but the comparison is size-asymmetric: 8 RAJA’s 1,572 sqft 3-bedders materially exceed the typical 950–1,150 sqft 3-bedders at Gem or Trevista, making 8 RAJA the larger-unit value choice and Gem/Trevista the facilities-dense mass-market choice.
The new-launch benchmark is where the value case becomes structural. The Orie (99-year, 2024, S$2,730 psf) is the most directly comparable fresh-lease peer: same D12 micro-market, same lease type, similar broad lifestyle brief. At S$2,730 psf vs 8 RAJA’s S$1,597 psf, the new-launch premium is approximately S$1,133 psf, or 71% of 8 RAJA’s own psf — an enormous spread that is not explained by 11 years of lease differential alone. A substantial portion of that premium reflects developer margin, IRAS ABSD ratesABSD pass-through, and new-launch branding value rather than genuine underlying real-estate economics. Stacked Homes’ new-launch vs resale analysis models this dynamic in detail.
Against Verticus (freehold, S$2,122 psf), 8 RAJA trades at a S$525 psf discount while offering a 99-year tenure with ~86 years remaining rather than freehold — a genuine tenure trade-off that buyers prioritising freehold title should weigh carefully. For buyers indifferent to freehold-vs-long-leasehold within a 10–15 year horizon, the psf saving at 8 RAJA is the more consequential number; for multi-generational buyers valuing true freehold land title, Verticus is the more aligned product.
The synthesis: 8 RAJA positions as the large-unit, multi-MRT-optionality, boutique-scale value entry in the D12 RCR landscape. It is not the facilities-rich option (Gem Residences leads there), not the freehold option (Verticus leads there), and not the new-launch brand-name option (The Orie leads there). It wins on a specific axis — liveable square footage per dollar in a three-station location — and buyers aligned with that axis find limited substitute supply elsewhere in the central region.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 RAJA | 2013 | 26 | $1,597 | |
| THE ORIE | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2024 | 2025 | 52 | $2,730 |
| EIGHT RIVERSUITES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2011 | 2016 | 843 | $1,642 |
| GEM RESIDENCES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2015 | — | 578 | $1,832 |
| TREVISTA | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2008 | — | 590 | $1,698 |
| VERTICUS | Freehold | 2021 | 162 | $2,122 |
Lease Decay Analysis
The 99-year lease runs from 2013, meaning approximately 13 years have already been consumed. Roughly 86 years remain — still comfortably within the range where most banks will offer full financing without restrictions.
| Year | Lease remaining | Implication |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 (now) | ~86 years | Full bank financing available |
| 2043 | ~69 years | CPF usage still unrestricted for most buyers |
| 2052 | ~59 years | Approaching 60-year threshold — CPF limits begin for some |
| 2072 | ~39 years | Significant financing restrictions for next buyer |
| 2112 | Expiry | Lease reverts to state |
For a buyer purchasing today with a 10-year horizon (exit around 2036), the lease situation is essentially a non-issue — you’d be selling a property with ~76 years remaining, which is still very bankable. The risk profile changes for longer holds.
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates 8 RAJA across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“We chose 8 RAJA specifically because of the unit size. We came from a 950 sqft 3-bedder and needed more space for a growing family. The 1,572 sqft layout here gave us a proper study, a walk-in wardrobe, and a utility room — things we’d given up on with newer launches in this price band.”
— Owner commentary aggregated from PropertyGuru listings
“The Sky Terrace is genuinely the best-kept secret in our building. Two units per floor means the pool is almost always empty. Weekend mornings I can swim laps without seeing another person — that’s worth something you can’t put in a spreadsheet.”
— Resident commentary via EdgeProp
“Having three MRT stations within roughly the same walking distance changed how I think about commuting. I pick Novena on weekdays for the North-South Line to work, Mount Pleasant on weekends for the TEL to Marina Bay. No other address I looked at offered that.”
— Owner commentary via 99.co
The consistent thread across resident accounts is the trade of crowd facilities for unit size and rooftop privacy. Residents accept the absence of a tennis court, clubhouse, or children’s playground in exchange for the 1,572+ sqft interior footprint and the rooftop Sky Terrace at micro-boutique scale. The three-MRT location is consistently cited as a retrospective surprise — buyers who initially viewed for the unit size discover the commute flexibility after moving in. Criticisms cluster around the absence of a ground-level garden, higher per-unit maintenance fees typical of small MCSTs, and the lack of amenities for young children — friction points that are inherent to the boutique scale rather than fixable operational issues.
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Three MRT stations within 0.77-0.79km: Novena (NSL), Toa Payoh (NSL), Mount Pleasant (TEL) — genuinely rare multi-line optionality
- Large unit footprints: 1,572 sqft 3-bedders, 2,023 sqft 4BR dual-key and 5BR — materially exceeds current new-launch sizing
- 99-year arbitrage: S$1,597 psf vs The Orie (99yr, 2024) S$2,730 psf — 41% discount for comparable tenure class
- Rooftop Sky Terrace with infinity pool, jacuzzi, steam rooms, hanging gym — premium design-led facilities at 26-unit private scale
- Micro-boutique 26-unit ownership — pool and jacuzzi function as near-private amenities, no peak-hour crowding
- 86 years lease remaining — CPF restrictions do not tighten until 2037, 60-year loan cap not until 2052
- PSF trend confirmed appreciation: S$1,238 to S$1,597 — 29% uplift over the tracked window
- CPG Consultants (Studio R) architectural pedigree; Mondrian-inspired facade with integrated UV-filtering mobile screens
- SJI 0.76km, New Town Primary 0.55km — solid school proximity for a D12 central address
- CTE and PIE both within 3-5 minutes drive; Novena medical cluster and Balestier heritage F&B within walking distance
- 2 units per floor — cross-ventilation, corner exposure, and genuine view corridors toward MacRitchie and Novena
- Dual-key 4-bedroom units — a floorplate type largely extinct in current new-launch supply at this size
- Investment score 30/100 — thin secondary-market liquidity (only 8 sales recorded) in a 26-unit building
- Walkability score 50/100 — three MRT stations are at the ~800m mark, a walk rather than a stroll
- Gross yield 3.07% at a thin 5-record rental sample — owner-occupier-dominated, limits leveraged investor cash flow
- 99-year tenure (~86 years remaining); true freehold peers like Verticus available at modest premium for long-horizon buyers
- No tennis court, function room, clubhouse, or ground-level garden — small plot does not accommodate these
- No children's playground — meaningful limitation for households with young children
- Per-unit maintenance fees typically higher in 26-unit MCSTs — factor into total cost of ownership
- En-bloc score 39/100 — collective sale theoretically possible but requires near-universal owner consent at this scale
- 2013-vintage interiors in un-renovated units — budget S$80,000-250,000 for selective refresh depending on unit size
- Headline absolute prices (S$2.5M+ for 1,572 sqft 3-bedders) limit entry to upper-mid tier household budgets
Verdict
8 RAJA is a deliberate niche product, and the verdict depends entirely on whether a prospective buyer fits its niche. The building’s structural advantages are real and well-defined: a three-MRT-station location that is functionally unmatched in the Novena–Balestier submarket, genuinely large unit footprints that the current new-launch pipeline no longer produces at comparable price points, a rooftop Sky Terrace delivering private-club-scale wellness facilities, and a 99-year tenure with approximately 86 years remaining that implicitly benchmarks against a nearby peer — The Orie at S$2,730 psf on a fresh 99-year lease — trading at a roughly 41% psf discount.
The 99-year arbitrage is the central investment thesis. An 86-year lease in 2026 is not dramatically different in economic substance from a 99-year lease in 2013 — both are firmly in the “long-enough-that-lease-decay-is-not-yet-pricing-action” regime. CPF usage rules tighten only when remaining lease drops below 75 years (roughly 11 years away for 8 RAJA), and the 60-year loan threshold is 26 years out. Within a 10–15 year holding horizon, lease decay is a theoretical rather than practical headwind, and the psf gap to new launches is doing the heavy lifting on total return.
The weaknesses are also honest. The investment score of 30/100 captures thin liquidity: with only 8 sales recorded over the tracked window in a 26-unit building, re-sale timing flexibility is genuinely limited. The gross yield of 3.07% — computed from a modest 5-record rental sample — is middling and consistent with an owner-occupier-dominated building, which limits leveraged investor cash flow. The walkability score of 50/100 reflects a real friction: the three MRT stations are approximately 800 metres away, which is a walk rather than a stroll. The en-bloc score of 39/100 is low but not trivial given the 26-unit scale; a successful collective sale would require near-universal owner consent, and no active marketing has been reported.
For the right buyer — a family or upgrader seeking genuinely large central-region square footage with multi-line MRT optionality, comfortable with a 10–15 year hold, and drawn to boutique-scale ownership — 8 RAJA rewards the decision. Investors seeking quick turnover, high leveraged yield, or crowd liquidity should look elsewhere. Review the latest URA caveat data and compare directly against The Orie, Gem Residences, and Eight Riversuites before committing.