Buckley Residence
Overview & Key Facts
Buckley Residence is a 13-unit freehold boutique development nestled quietly along Buckley Road in District 11 — one of the most coveted residential addresses in Singapore’s Core Central Region. Completed in 2008 by Buckley Development Pte Ltd, the property comprises a single five-storey block offering a carefully curated mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, including rare roof-terrace units and a full penthouse. With just 13 homes in total, “boutique” here is not a marketing label but a lived reality: residents genuinely know their neighbours, the pool is almost never crowded, and the driveway rarely resembles the entrance of a 500-unit mega-development.
What makes Buckley Residence genuinely notable — and what its modest headline PSF of $1,912 obscures — is its rental yield. At 4.38% gross on a freehold title in the CCR, that number is practically anomalous. The CCR average sits persistently below 3% for freehold product; many marquee towers in the Orchard and Nassim corridors struggle to clear 2.5%. The combination of smaller, manageable unit sizes and strong tenant demand from the Novena medical and Newton professional cluster drives rents disproportionately for the asset class.
The buyer pool tends to cluster into two clear profiles. The first is the school-priority family — Buckley Road sits inside the coveted MOE Phase 2C priority distances for Singapore Chinese Girls’ School Primary (0.48 km), ACS (Primary) (0.59 km), and St. Margaret’s Primary (0.57 km), with SJI just 0.87 km away. For parents running the P1 registration calculus, the address is about as strong as Singapore gets outside of Bukit Timah Road itself. The second profile is the yield-conscious investor who wants CCR freehold permanence without the $2,500–$3,200 psf entry price of its larger Newton and Novena neighbours.
Location & Connectivity
Buckley Road sits in the quiet residential pocket between Newton Road and Chancery Lane — a stretch of District 11 that has resisted the commercialisation of adjacent Novena and retained its garden-suburb character. The surrounding streetscape is almost entirely landed housing and low-rise private apartments, with mature rain trees shading the pavement and virtually zero retail through-traffic. It is the sort of address that Singapore’s old guard has always preferred: central without being busy, prestigious without being ostentatious.
Transit access is one of Buckley Residence’s clearest strengths. Newton MRT Interchange (NS21 / DT11) is 0.46 km away, giving residents both the North–South Line and the Downtown Line within an eight-minute flat-terrain walk. Novena MRT (NS20) is only 0.52 km in the opposite direction, adding a second NS Line access point that is genuinely useful for southbound commuters avoiding the Newton interchange interchange congestion during peak hours. In practical terms, a resident without a car can reach Raffles Place in under 20 minutes, Orchard in under 12, and Bugis or City Hall in under 25 — all without a single transfer if departing via the Downtown Line at Newton.
Daily amenities are well-served without being overwhelming. Newton Food Centre, one of Singapore’s most iconic hawker centres, is a five-minute walk — a genuine quality-of-life asset that most million-dollar condos cannot claim. United Square Shopping Mall (0.5 km), with its family-oriented tenant mix and Kiddy Palace, is a particularly relevant amenity for the school-priority buyers who dominate the resident profile here. Velocity @ Novena Square and the Novena medical cluster — Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Novena, and Farrer Park Hospital — add healthcare convenience that carries outsize weight for older residents and expatriate tenants with employer health benefits.
The school access story is genuinely exceptional. Within 0.6 km, residents can walk their children to Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (Primary) at 0.48 km, St. Margaret’s Primary at 0.57 km, and ACS (Primary) at 0.59 km — three of the most sought-after primary schools in Singapore, all within a single P1 ballot priority ring from the same address. St Joseph’s Institution (SJI) at 0.87 km rounds out what is probably the most coveted school proximity cluster in the country outside of Bukit Timah Road and Henry Park.
Schools & Education
4 primary schools within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore Chinese Girls' School (Primary) | primary | Within 1 km |
| St. Margaret's Primary School | primary | Within 1 km |
| Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) | primary | Within 1 km |
| St. Margaret's Secondary School | secondary | Within 1 km |
| St. Joseph's Institution | secondary | Within 1 km |
| CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace | primary | Within 1 km |
| St. Anthony's Primary School | primary | ~1.2 km |
| New Town Primary School | primary | ~1.4 km |
Facilities
Prospective buyers coming from a 300-unit full-facility development need to reset expectations before viewing: Buckley Residence is a 13-unit boutique, and its facilities reflect that honestly. The development offers a spa pool, resident parking (13 lots, one per unit), 24-hour security, and basic landscaped grounds. There is no gymnasium, no function room, no tennis court, and no clubhouse of meaningful size. What there is — the pool, the privacy, and the near-zero usage pressure — is genuinely pleasant for those who have calibrated accordingly.
“The pool is small but I’ve had it entirely to myself on more evenings than I can count. In three years living here, I’ve never once had to queue for a parking lot or wait for the lift. That’s worth more to me than a half-empty gym I wouldn’t use anyway.”
— Resident review via PropertyGuru, 2024
The practical trade-off is straightforward: the smaller MCST means maintenance fees are low and the management committee is easy to engage with, but there is no economy of scale for major common-area works. Prospective buyers should request the sinking fund balance and ask whether any major exterior or lift works are scheduled in the coming three years — with only 13 contributing units, any large special levy is proportionally significant. Residents who have access to the Novena medical cluster gyms via employer memberships, or who use the community gyms at the adjacent housing estate, tend to find the facilities gap entirely manageable.
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 2 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $988,000 to $1,042,000, averaging $1,015,000 (~$1,912 psf).
Rents range from $2,000 to $5,500 per month across 30 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 4.4%.
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2025, the average PSF has declined by 5.2% (from $2,017 to $1,912 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
The most instructive comparisons for Buckley Residence are its larger, newer freehold neighbours in the Newton–Novena corridor. Pullman Residences Newton ($3,074 psf, 340 units, freehold) offers full-facility resort amenities, a brand-new build vintage, and the Pullman brand association — but at 60%+ PSF premium that makes the yield math fundamentally different, and the 340-unit scale that boutique buyers are specifically trying to avoid. Watten House ($3,236 psf, 180 units, freehold) is arguably the most prestigious recent CCR boutique launch, commanding the highest PSF in the Newton corridor with a landed-estate address, but at a price point that puts it in a different buyer universe entirely. Peak Residence ($2,489 psf, 90 units, freehold) sits between the two — a more modest boutique closer to the Whitley Road corridor, better facilitated than Buckley Residence but still a 30% PSF premium over it.
The differentiating insight is structural: Buckley Residence’s $1,912 psf entry point and 4.38% yield reflect a development whose unit configurations (517 sqft 1BRs through to 2,293 sqft penthouses) optimise for rental returns in a way that newer larger-format CCR launches simply cannot replicate at their PSF levels. For buyers with under $1.5m to deploy into CCR freehold — without ABSD and without yield compression — Buckley Residence occupies a position that its high-profile neighbours have, by moving upmarket, vacated.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUCKLEY RESIDENCE | Freehold | 2008 | 13 | $1,912 |
| PULLMAN RESIDENCES NEWTON | Freehold | 2021 | 340 | $3,074 |
| WATTEN HOUSE | Freehold | 2023 | 180 | $3,236 |
| SOLEIL @ SINARAN | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2006 | 2011 | 417 | $1,970 |
| PEAK RESIDENCE | Freehold | 2021 | 90 | $2,489 |
| AMARYLLIS VILLE | 99 yrs lease commencing from 1997 | 2004 | 311 | $1,903 |
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates BUCKLEY RESIDENCE across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“We chose Buckley Residence specifically because we could register for SCGS Primary from this address. Three years on, the school worked out and the commute works for my husband who takes the DT Line from Newton every morning. The small community took some getting used to — you really do know everyone in the lift lobby — but now I wouldn’t trade it.”
— Owner review via EdgeProp, 2024
“I’m a tenant in one of the one-bedroom units. Work at Tan Tock Seng so the Novena MRT makes the commute trivial. The pool is tiny but I’ve never shared it with more than two other people in 18 months. Quiet street, no nightlife noise, very safe feeling. I’d renew my lease in a heartbeat if the landlord doesn’t sell.”
— Tenant review via 99.co, 2024
“The yield on our unit surprised us — we expected CCR to be a pure capital-play but the rental demand from the medical community around Novena has been very consistent. We’ve had the same tenant for four years. The freehold title means there’s no urgency to exit, which suits a long-hold strategy perfectly.”
— Investor review via PropertyGuru, 2023
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold tenure — no lease-decay anxiety, intergenerational holding viable
- 4.38% gross yield is exceptional for CCR freehold — most Newton/Novena comparables clear only 2.0–2.8%
- Newton MRT interchange (NS21/DT11) just 0.46 km — dual-line access, car-free lifestyle viable
- Novena MRT (NS20) 0.52 km — second NS Line access for southbound commuters
- SCGS Primary 0.48 km, ACS (Primary) 0.59 km, SJI 0.87 km — strongest school-priority cluster in CCR outside Bukit Timah
- St. Margaret's Primary 0.57 km — additional elite primary school within P1 priority distance
- 13-unit ultra-boutique scale delivers genuine privacy — pool and lobby almost never crowded
- Newton Food Centre 5-min walk — rare hawker centre walkability for a CCR address
- Entry PSF at $1,912 — 38–41% below Pullman Residences Newton and Watten House comparables
- Stable Novena medical professional tenant base supports consistent rental demand
- 17 years old (2008 TOP) — kitchens and bathrooms in un-renovated units need $60k–$100k refresh
- Only 13 units — thin resale liquidity, exits require correct pricing and patience
- Minimal facilities: spa pool and parking only — no gym, no clubhouse, no tennis court
- Small 13-unit MCST more exposed to disproportionate impact of special levies for major works
- Buckley Road has no walkable F&B strip — dependent on Newton Food Centre or Novena Square (5–10 min walk)
- Limited rental demand for the largest penthouse units (2,293 sqft) — narrower tenant pool at higher rents
- No covered walkway to MRT — Newton 0.46 km is pleasant in dry weather, less so in heavy rain
- PSF trend slightly soft (-5% from $2,017 to $1,912 psf) — monitor before timing entry
Verdict
The headline number for Buckley Residence is 4.38% gross yield on a freehold CCR asset — and it deserves to be emphasised, because it is genuinely exceptional by the standards of its peer group. Pullman Residences Newton, the most directly comparable recent CCR freehold launch in the Newton corridor, transacts at $3,074 psf — more than 60% above Buckley Residence’s $1,912 psf. Watten House commands $3,236 psf. At those PSF levels, buyers are typically looking at gross yields of 2.0–2.8% at best. Buckley Residence’s combination of smaller, more rentable unit configurations and the Novena medical tenant pool produces a yield outcome that is structurally different from what the PSF alone would suggest.
For the school-priority owner-occupier, the address case is similarly strong. No comparably priced freehold development in Singapore offers simultaneous proximity to SCGS Primary, ACS (Primary), St. Margaret’s, and SJI — all within 0.87 km. The Newton MRT at 0.46 km and Novena MRT at 0.52 km together eliminate car dependency entirely for most daily routines. Newton Food Centre is a five-minute walk. These are location attributes that will not be disrupted by any future development in the immediate vicinity — the surrounding landed and low-rise residential zoning provides meaningful protection.
The honest caveats are real but largely cosmetic. The development is 17 years old as of 2025, and un-renovated units show it. At 13 units, resale liquidity is thin — with only two sales tracked, finding a buyer at a target price requires patience and correct pricing. The boutique scale means no gym, no clubhouse, and no tennis court. Buyers who need their monthly maintenance fee to unlock resort facilities should look elsewhere. But for those who understand that the yield, the address, the school catchment, and the dual-MRT access are the product — and that the low-density privacy is a feature, not a deficiency — Buckley Residence represents one of the most quietly compelling freehold propositions in the CCR market.