D'evelyn
Overview & Key Facts
D’Evelyn is an unusually small freehold boutique condominium — just 24 units across a single five-storey block at 18 Evelyn Road — tucked into the residential enclave where Newton, Novena and the old Chancery district converge. Completed in 2008 by Eastern Development Pte Ltd, it belongs to the narrowest slice of Singapore’s freehold stock: micro-boutique projects with fewer than thirty households, occupying pocket sites that can no longer be assembled under modern planning rules. In District 11, where the recent freehold launches have run to several hundred units, D’Evelyn is almost a throwback — a building that feels closer in scale and tone to a walk-up apartment than to a modern condominium.
The numbers underline how unusual this project is. Total sales turnover in the recorded period stands at just eight transactions, with a 12-month average transacted price of S$2,003,625 and a median of S$2,200,000. The 12-month average PSF sits at roughly S$1,934, and the broader trend line — S$1,640 → S$2,045 → S$1,855 → S$2,083 → S$1,934 — confirms a stable, non-speculative curve rather than a classic growth trajectory. The rental book is, by contrast, notably active: 31 current rental transactions across the building’s small footprint, averaging S$4,279 per month and producing a modest gross yield of approximately 2.13%.
The ShiokNest composite score of 58/100 captures an honest trade-off. The freehold tenure, the Newton NS/DT doorstep position at 0.38 km, and the elite-school five-belt (SCGS, ACS Primary, St Margaret’s, SJI and the rest) would justify a stronger score in isolation — but the 24-unit scale means thin liquidity, limited facilities and a yield that will not excite pure income investors. The correct reading of D’Evelyn is not as a yield play or a quick flip, but as a scarcity-grade freehold land holding in a prestige postcode, priced at roughly 37% below freehold peers like Pullman Residences Newton ($3,075 psf) and Watten House ($3,236 psf).
Location & Connectivity
Evelyn Road is one of District 11’s quieter addresses, running through the residential corridor between Newton Road to the south and Moulmein Road to the north. It is a street that most Singaporeans would not recognise by name — and that is precisely the point. D’Evelyn sits inside an enclave where landed houses, mid-century apartment blocks and small freehold condominiums coexist without the traffic load of the main arterials. And yet the MRT position is, in walking terms, exceptional. Newton MRT (NS21 / DT11) is approximately 0.38 km from the development — a flat five-minute walk — and it is one of the relatively few stations in Singapore that sits on two lines, giving residents direct North-South Line access to Orchard, the CBD and Bishan, and Downtown Line access to Bugis, Little India, Bukit Panjang and the financial district at Downtown station.
Novena MRT (NS20) adds a second option at 0.62 km to the north, and the upcoming Mount Pleasant MRT (TE10, Thomson-East Coast Line) is 1.24 km away — far enough to be a driving option but close enough to add a third connectivity axis once TEL expansion is complete. For a 2008-vintage building, being bracketed by a dual-interchange station at the doorstep, a single-line station within walking distance, and a forthcoming TEL station within a short drive is a materially better rail profile than most freehold boutiques of equivalent age.
Daily life benefits from the Newton-Novena overlap. The famous Newton Food Centre is at the doorstep, offering one of Singapore’s most distinctive hawker experiences. United Square, Velocity @ Novena, Square 2 and the Novena Medical Centre complex all sit within an easy ten-minute walk or a short drive. Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital anchor the healthcare cluster that has made Novena one of Singapore’s most sought-after medical-adjacent residential pockets. For drivers, the Central Expressway (CTE) and PIE are minutes away, and Orchard Road is reachable in under ten minutes off-peak.
Schools & Education
3 primary schools within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore Chinese Girls' School (Primary) | primary | Within 1 km |
| Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) | primary | Within 1 km |
| St. Margaret's Primary School | 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 | ~1.1 km |
| St. Anthony's Primary School | primary | ~1.1 km |
| ACS (Junior) | primary | ~1.4 km |
Facilities
Any honest review of D’Evelyn has to begin with scale. At 24 units across a single five-storey block, the development cannot — and does not attempt to — compete with the resort-grade facilities packages of modern mega-launches. The core facilities are appropriately boutique: a swimming pool, basic landscaping, and a small covered car park. There is no clubhouse, no gym suite, no tennis court, no spa pavilion, and no concierge reception. What the development offers instead is the opposite of the 500-unit condo experience — a pool that is almost always empty, a shared driveway where residents recognise every neighbour’s car, and the operational simplicity of a building where the sinking-fund calculus works at genuine household scale.
For the right buyer, this is a feature rather than a bug. Households that already use external gym memberships, club facilities or the surrounding Newton-Novena amenities — and there are plenty, including Singapore Island Country Club, Newton-area boutique studios, and multiple full-service hotel gyms on a walk-in basis — do not need in-building infrastructure. Families with young children who swim frequently will appreciate a pool that does not require queueing for a lane. And the monthly maintenance fee profile of a 24-unit development, while per-unit higher than mega-condo pricing, carries the offsetting advantage of direct owner influence on upkeep standards: the MCST here is small enough that decisions happen across a handful of households, not via proxy-vote inertia.
“It is a small but nicely designed condo. The pool is clean, the common area is quiet, and you get to know everyone. After ten years in a 400-unit condo, this was the main reason we switched — the scale just feels more human.”
— Resident review, 99.co
The reported internal specifications at launch included Bosch appliances, Kohler and Grohe sanitaryware, and biometric main-door locks — a cut above the standard 2008-era developer fit-out, consistent with Eastern Development’s positioning of the project at the premium end of the boutique segment. Penthouse units at the top floor carry private roof-terrace access, which on a 24-unit freehold site in D11 is a genuinely rare configuration. The facilities rating of 5.0/10 reflects the honest picture: modest relative to new launches, appropriate and well-proportioned for the building’s scale and character.
Unit Sizes & Layout
D’Evelyn’s 24 units span a mix of 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, 3-bedroom and penthouse configurations across five residential storeys. Public floor-plan data is limited — a consequence of the tiny transaction history and the building’s low turnover — but the median transacted price of S$2,200,000 at an average PSF of S$1,934 implies typical transacted unit sizes in the 1,100–1,150 sqft range, consistent with a three-bedroom or large two-bedroom-plus-study layout. Penthouse units with private roof terraces sit above this average and push into the S$2.5M–S$3.0M bracket on the rare occasions they change hands.
The building’s physical layout — one block, five storeys, no adjoining common walls between units on the lower floors — is characteristic of the small-site freehold developments of the 2005–2010 vintage. Residents report large balconies, generally north-south orientations, and unit-side cross-ventilation that reflects careful design on a constrained footprint. The 2008 vintage means internal finishes — Bosch appliances, Kohler and Grohe bathroom fittings — are premium for their era but will be approaching or past a natural refresh cycle in most un-renovated units. Buyers should budget roughly S$80,000–S$150,000 for a competent interior refresh on a 1,100 sqft unit, and crucially, because the title is freehold, that renovation investment is not eroded by lease decay.
The penthouse configuration is the most compelling unit type in the building. At S$1,934 psf, a 1,600 sqft penthouse with private roof terrace on a freehold title transacts at approximately S$3.1 million — a figure that, replicated at Pullman Residences Newton at S$3,075 psf freehold, would cost closer to S$4.9 million. The PSF gap between D’Evelyn and its nearest new-launch freehold peer is widest at the largest unit types, which is a consistent pattern across older boutique freeholds in the district.
| Bedrooms | Transactions | Avg PSF | Avg Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 BR | 2 | $1,755 | $1,076,500 |
| 3 BR | 5 | $1,880 | $2,267,200 |
| 4 BR | 1 | $1,844 | $2,540,000 |
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 8 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $1,015,000 to $2,668,000, averaging $2,003,625 (~$1,934 psf).
Rents range from $2,700 to $6,700 per month across 31 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 2.1%.
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2026, the average PSF has appreciated by 19.1% (from $1,624 to $1,934 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
D’Evelyn’s peer set divides cleanly into two camps. The direct freehold comparators are the modern luxury launches that book-end the Newton corridor: Pullman Residences Newton (340 units, freehold, S$3,075 psf) and Watten House (180 units, freehold, S$3,236 psf). Both are substantially newer (2023–2024 launches), larger, and carry full resort-grade facilities, concierge services, and developer warranties. Against them, D’Evelyn trades at a roughly 37–40% PSF discount. That gap is not a mispricing — it is the rational market spread between a 2008-vintage 24-unit boutique and a 2024 premium launch with 300+ units — but a meaningful portion of it represents freehold land-value convergence that should compress over a 10–20 year horizon.
Peak Residence (90 units, freehold, S$2,489 psf) is the closest mid-sized freehold peer, and provides the most useful benchmark. Against Peak Residence, D’Evelyn offers roughly S$555 psf savings, but at the cost of a noticeably older building, a smaller unit count and a more modest facilities package. The case for Peak Residence is the newer M&E infrastructure and larger community scale; the case for D’Evelyn is the closer MRT position (0.38 km vs Peak Residence’s position further from Newton MRT) and the lower price of entry for the freehold tenure.
The leasehold comparators reinforce the value case. Soleil @ Sinaran (417 units, 99-year from 2006, S$1,970 psf) and Amaryllis Ville (330 units, 99-year from 1997, S$1,899 psf) trade at effectively the same PSF as D’Evelyn — but on rapidly decaying 99-year leases. Amaryllis Ville, in particular, has less than 70 years remaining and is inside the zone where CPF-use restrictions and bank financing caps begin to bite. A freehold title at the same PSF as a 70-year-remaining leasehold is a genuine structural value proposition, and this is the comparison that most clearly illustrates why D’Evelyn deserves attention from buyers with long holding horizons. Stacked Homes’ freehold vs leasehold analysis models the lease-decay divergence in detail.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D'EVELYN | Freehold | 2008 | 24 | $1,934 |
| PULLMAN RESIDENCES NEWTON | Freehold | 2021 | 340 | $3,075 |
| 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 | $1,899 |
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates D'EVELYN across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“We chose D’Evelyn because of the schools. SCGS is a five-minute walk, ACS Primary is around the corner, and St Margaret’s is on the other side. The 1 km ballot zone here is ridiculous — you can walk to five good schools. That was the whole reason for the move, and three years in, it has been the right call.”
— Resident review via 99.co
“It is a small but nicely designed condo. The pool is clean, the common area is quiet, and you get to know everyone. After ten years in a big condo, the scale just feels more human. Newton MRT at the doorstep is also a big deal — I do not drive to the office any more.”
— Resident review via PropertyGuru
“The internal finishes held up well. Bosch, Kohler, Grohe — developers used to specify properly in the 2008 era, and it shows. We did a light kitchen refresh last year but the bathrooms are still original and fine. For a freehold unit this close to Newton, the price felt genuinely reasonable compared to what Pullman is asking across the road.”
— Resident review via EdgeProp
The consistent thread across resident accounts is the school corridor plus dual-MRT combination, with the human-scale community feel as a secondary driver. Residents who moved in as families with primary-school-age children describe the SCGS / ACS / St Margaret’s ballot advantage as the decisive factor; residents who moved in as professionals cite Newton MRT and the quick drive to Orchard and the CBD. The main friction points raised are the narrow facilities set relative to newer neighbours and the aging common-area fixtures — neither of which is a surprise given the 2008 vintage and boutique scale.
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold tenure at S$1,934 psf — 37–40% below Pullman Residences Newton ($3,075 psf) and Watten House ($3,236 psf) freehold peers
- Newton MRT (NS/DT dual-interchange) 0.38km — five-minute flat walk to both North-South and Downtown lines
- Novena MRT (NSL) 0.62km — second rail option within a comfortable walk, rare dual-station freehold profile
- Elite-school 1km ballot belt: SCGS Primary 0.38km, ACS Primary 0.49km, St Margaret's Primary 0.60km, SJI 0.87km
- Micro-boutique 24-unit scale — uncrowded pool, quiet common areas, genuine community cohesion
- Premium 2008-era fit-out: Bosch appliances, Kohler and Grohe sanitaryware, biometric main-door locks
- Penthouse units with private roof terraces — rare configuration on a 24-unit freehold site in D11
- Newton Food Centre, United Square, Velocity @ Novena and Tan Tock Seng Hospital all within comfortable walking distance
- Same PSF as 99-year Soleil @ Sinaran ($1,970) and Amaryllis Ville ($1,899) but with freehold title — structural value gap
- Upcoming Mount Pleasant MRT (TEL) at 1.24km adds a third connectivity axis once TEL expansion completes
- Modest gross yield at 2.13% — rental income insufficient to cover mortgage servicing on a leveraged purchase
- Investment score 47/100 — thin secondary liquidity with only 8 sales over the tracked period; exit flexibility constrained
- Only 24 units — buyers targeting D'Evelyn specifically may wait 6–18 months for the right stack or floor plan
- 2008 vintage interiors in un-renovated units; M&E systems approaching end-of-lifecycle replacement window
- Facilities are minimal (pool and car park only) — no gym, tennis court, concierge or clubhouse
- En-bloc score 50/100 — small freehold site is developer-attractive but 80% consent threshold across 24 owners is a coordination challenge
- PSF trend sideways rather than strongly upward ($1,640 → $2,045 → $1,855 → $2,083 → $1,934) — capital preservation, not rapid growth
- Per-unit maintenance fees higher than mega-condo pricing due to small-MCST overhead allocation
Verdict
D’Evelyn is a niche proposition that suits a specific kind of buyer. At S$1,934 psf freehold in District 11, with Newton MRT at 0.38 km and the SCGS / ACS Primary / St Margaret’s / SJI school belt arranged in a 1 km radius, this is a structurally undervalued freehold land holding rather than a yield play or a quick-flip opportunity. Compared to the nearest direct freehold peers — Pullman Residences Newton at S$3,075 psf and Watten House at S$3,236 psf — D’Evelyn trades at a 37–40% discount. That gap reflects vintage (2008 vs 2023–2024), scale (24 units vs 340–432 units) and facilities differential, but it does not fully reflect the freehold land value per se, which is the part that compounds structurally over a long holding horizon.
The walkability score of 70/100 is genuine for the location. Newton MRT at 0.38 km and Novena MRT at 0.62 km give residents dual-station rail access, and the Newton Food Centre, United Square, Velocity @ Novena and Tan Tock Seng Hospital are all within a comfortable walk. For families, the elite-school five-belt inside 1 km — Singapore Chinese Girls’ Primary at 0.38 km, Anglo-Chinese School Primary at 0.49 km, St Margaret’s Primary at 0.60 km, St Margaret’s Secondary at 0.67 km, and Saint Joseph’s Institution at 0.87 km — is one of the densest prestigious-school clusters in Singapore, with CHIJ OLQP, St Anthony’s and ACS Junior reinforcing the set at the 1–1.35 km range.
The weaknesses are real and should not be glossed over. The gross yield of 2.13% is below the D11 prime average and will not cover mortgage servicing at current interest rates on a leveraged purchase. The investment score of 47/100 reflects the thin liquidity problem: with only eight sales over the tracked period, exit flexibility in a softening market is materially lower than in a 200-unit building. The en-bloc score of 50/100 captures a known but lower-probability collective-sale scenario — the site is small, freehold, and in a prestige postcode, which is the right profile for a developer bid, but the 80% ownership-consent threshold across 24 households is a coordination challenge that has historically taken longer to resolve than on larger sites.
The right buyer for D’Evelyn is a family with a 10–20 year horizon, a genuine interest in the SCGS / ACS / SJI school corridor, and a preference for freehold land over leasehold glass-and-steel. For that buyer, this is one of the last affordable freehold entries into the inner Newton enclave — a position that gets structurally harder to replicate as the surrounding freehold stock is absorbed into progressively larger and pricier new-launch projects. Refer to the URA Master Plan for the zoning context that protects this low-density character.