Gems Ville
Overview & Key Facts
Gems Ville is a freehold boutique development sitting on a compact 7,866 sqft plot at 8 Lorong 13 Geylang, squarely in District 14. Completed in 2023–2024 by East Asia Geylang Development Pte Ltd (a subsidiary of the Dong Ya Xin Hua Group), it comprises just 24 units across a single low-rise block. For context: that is roughly 2% of the unit count at nearby Parc Esta (1,399 units) and a fraction of Sims Urban Oasis (1,024 units). This is deliberately a small-batch, owner-occupier kind of development — not a facilities-heavy mega-condo.
The unit mix is intentionally narrow: 1-bedroom-plus-study, 2-bedroom, 3-bedroom, and 3-bedroom dual-key layouts. EdgeProp records show a 12-month average of around S$2,091 psf across 11 transactions, with the median price at roughly S$1.19 million — positioning Gems Ville as an entry point to freehold ownership in the city fringe at price points that would only buy a 99-year leasehold pigeonhole in the same radius.
The building wears a distinctive Brise Soleil facade — a design feature more common to mid-market European residential than Singapore heartland condos — giving it a recognisable street presence despite its modest height. For buyers who have been priced out of District 15 East Coast freehold or find District 11 unaffordable, Gems Ville represents one of the few fresh, freehold, fee-simple entry tickets left in the greater city-fringe zone at sub-S$1.2 million.
Location & Connectivity
Gems Ville sits on the odd-numbered side of Geylang, tucked along Lorong 13 — a residential lorong that benefits from being one street removed from the busier main spine of Geylang Road. The nearest MRT is Aljunied on the East-West Line at about 700 metres, roughly an 8–10 minute walk. Kallang MRT is slightly further at 730 metres, and Mountbatten on the Circle Line sits under a kilometre away. For a city-fringe freehold at this price point, three MRT stations within a 1 km walking radius is genuinely strong optionality — a working professional can commute to Raffles Place in under 15 minutes door-to-door.
Drivers get equally convenient access. The PIE, KPE, and ECP are all within two minutes of the site, putting Changi Airport, the CBD, and Marina Bay within a 15–20 minute drive in off-peak conditions. Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ) and SingPost Centre are both two MRT stops away, and KINEX and Kallang Wave Mall are a short drive for weekend shopping and dining. The broader Kallang/Stadium precinct — with its sports hub, Indoor Stadium, and the emerging Kallang master plan — sits just across the river and is one of the structural drivers for the sub-market.
The elephant in the room with any Geylang address is the character of the surrounding streets. Geylang is a mixed-use zone with a well-documented night-time economy, and the even-numbered lorongs carry a different reputation than the odd-numbered ones. Lorong 13 is on the quieter, more residential side, but buyers should still visit the site at three different times — weekday morning, weekday evening, and Friday night — before committing. For some buyers the proximity to 24-hour supper and authentic hawker food is a net positive; for others, the neighbourhood texture is a deal-breaker.
Schools & Education
1 primary school within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| One World International School (Mountbatten) | international | Within 1 km |
| Geylang Methodist School (Primary) | primary | Within 1 km |
| Geylang Methodist School (Secondary) | secondary | ~1.1 km |
| Kong Hwa School | primary | ~1.4 km |
| Hong Wen School | primary | ~1.5 km |
| Macpherson Primary School | primary | ~1.8 km |
| Bendemeer Secondary School | secondary | ~1.8 km |
| Bendemeer Primary School | primary | ~1.9 km |
Facilities
Do not buy Gems Ville for the facilities. With only 24 units and a 7,866 sqft footprint, the common areas are a deliberately pared-back boutique package: a 19-metre lap pool, a compact gym room, a BBQ pavilion, alfresco dining seating, and a landscaped garden strip. There is no tennis court, no function room, no clubhouse, no children’s playground, no onsen, no air-conditioned anything. For a couple or a small family coming from a 1,000-unit mega-condo with 40 facilities, the adjustment is real.
The upside of this restraint is twofold. First, maintenance fees are correspondingly modest — a 24-unit block cannot afford to be extravagant, and the sinking fund maths work out favourably over a 10-year horizon. Second, the facilities you do get are almost never crowded. A 19-metre lap pool shared across 24 units (call it 50–60 residents at full occupancy) means you can swim at 7am on a Saturday without queueing for a lane — a genuinely different experience from Parc Esta or Sims Urban Oasis where peak-time pool usage can be frustrating.
For residents who treat the condo as a place to sleep, shower, and park — and who use the wider neighbourhood (Kallang Wave gym, ActiveSG pools, PCN running routes) for recreation — this minimalist approach is pragmatic. For families expecting a resort-lifestyle condo with amenities to entertain kids on weekends, Gems Ville is the wrong product and a larger development like Parc Esta or The Antares makes more sense.
Unit Sizes & Layout
The unit mix is boutique-sized and biased toward compact efficiency. PropertyGuru listings show 1-bedroom-plus-study layouts in the mid-400 sqft range, 2-bedroom units in the 600–700 sqft band, and 3-bedroom and 3-bedroom dual-key layouts in the 850–1,000+ sqft zone. These are firmly contemporary new-build dimensions — don’t expect the generous proportions of 1990s freeholds in the same postcode.
Every unit has a balcony, and the Brise Soleil facade treatment means the external expression is genuinely architectural rather than utilitarian. Internal finishes are pitched at the new-launch freehold standard: quartz countertops, branded European sanitaryware in the bathrooms, and built-in kitchen appliances across the range. The 3-bedroom dual-key layout is worth a specific mention — it is one of the few truly rentable dual-key products in the sub-S$2 million band, making it a sensible choice for multi-generational families or owner-occupiers who want to let out a secondary unit.
Because the development is so small, buyers should verify exact floor plans and orientations before committing — there is no such thing as a “typical” stack when the entire development has fewer than 10 stacks. Physically viewing the specific unit is non-negotiable.
| Bedrooms | Transactions | Avg PSF | Avg Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 BR | 6 | $2,113 | $1,091,667 |
| 2 BR | 2 | $1,884 | $1,500,560 |
| 3 BR | 4 | $1,961 | $2,302,075 |
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 12 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $988,000 to $2,428,000, averaging $1,563,285 (~$2,072 psf).
Rents range from $3,000 to $3,200 per month across 2 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 2.6%.
Price Appreciation
From 2023 to 2026, the average PSF has appreciated by 4.4% (from $1,912 to $1,996 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
The cleanest comparison set is other District 14 condos within walking distance of Aljunied or Kallang MRT. Parc Esta (S$2,182 psf, 1,399 units, 99-year from 2018) offers massive facilities, resale liquidity, and MRT adjacency — at a slight psf premium and with a finite lease. Sims Urban Oasis (S$1,760 psf, 1,024 units, 99-year from 2014) is the value pick on psf but also carries lease decay risk and is further from the most desirable MRT stations. The Antares (S$1,833 psf, 265 units, 99-year from 2018) is integrated with Mattar MRT and offers a middle-ground scale.
Against that set, Gems Ville’s pitch is simple and narrow: freehold tenure at a psf that sits between Sims Urban Oasis and Parc Esta, in exchange for a dramatic step-down in facilities and a much smaller resale pool. For a buyer who already owns a leasehold condo and wants a freehold second property, or for a long-term own-stay buyer with a 20+ year horizon, the math favours Gems Ville. For a pure yield-hunter or a 5-year trader, the larger 99-year developments with deeper transaction history offer a more liquid exit.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GEMS VILLE | Freehold | 2023 | 24 | $2,072 |
| PARC ESTA | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2018 | 2021 | 1,399 | $2,184 |
| SIMS URBAN OASIS | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2014 | 2020 | 1,024 | $1,762 |
| PENROSE | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2019 | 2021 | 566 | $1,928 |
| EUHABITAT | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2010 | 2016 | 697 | $1,326 |
| THE ANTARES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2018 | 2021 | 265 | $1,833 |
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates GEMS VILLE across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
Because Gems Ville only reached TOP in 2023–2024 and totals just 24 units, the pool of publicly available resident reviews is small — a structural feature of boutique developments rather than a negative signal. Across PropertyGuru and EdgeProp listings, early resident and buyer feedback clusters around a consistent set of themes.
“The freehold status was the main draw — at this price point in the city fringe, there aren’t many options. Quiet lorong, walkable to Aljunied MRT, and the facade is genuinely nice to come home to.”
— Early buyer sentiment summarised from new-launch marketing reviews
“Facilities are very basic — just a pool and a small gym. If you want a lifestyle condo, look elsewhere. But the low density means it always feels private.”
— Common observation across review aggregators
The pattern that emerges: buyers self-selected into Gems Ville for the tenure and entry price, not the amenities. Those who understood the trade-off upfront report satisfaction; those who expected a mega-condo experience at boutique prices report disappointment. Prospective buyers should calibrate expectations against the 24-unit reality — and where possible speak directly to an existing owner at viewing time, because the public review corpus will remain thin for another 3–5 years.
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold tenure — rare at sub-S$1.2M median in a city-fringe location
- Three MRT stations (Aljunied, Kallang, Mountbatten) within 1 km
- Distinctive Brise Soleil facade with genuine architectural identity
- Excellent expressway access (PIE, KPE, ECP) for drivers
- Low-density boutique feel — pool and gym rarely crowded
- New-build finishes with quartz counters and branded sanitaryware
- 3-bedroom dual-key layout available at sub-S$2M
- Contemporary completion (2023–2024) — no near-term renovation burden
- Respectable early transaction velocity (11 sales in first 12 months)
- Proximity to Kallang master plan and PLQ/SingPost employment nodes
- Minimal facilities — only pool, gym, BBQ, garden (no clubhouse, no tennis, no playground)
- Thin resale liquidity — only 24 units means infrequent comparable transactions
- Neighbourhood character — Geylang nightlife stigma may affect some buyer pools
- No on-site childcare, mini-mart, or F&B like larger developments
- Higher psf than nearby older leasehold stock (Euhabitat at S$1,326)
- Street-facing stacks exposed to lorong traffic and foot traffic
- Limited unit-mix variety within a small development footprint
- Boutique scale means no economies of scale on management fees per facility type
- Small public review corpus — harder to pre-validate resident experience
Verdict
Gems Ville is a niche product that answers a specific question: “Where can I buy a freehold, new-build, city-fringe condo for roughly S$1.2 million?” In 2026 Singapore, the honest answer to that question is a very short list — and Gems Ville sits on it. Compared against the 99-year leasehold stock in the same radius (Parc Esta at S$2,182 psf, Penrose at S$1,928 psf, The Antares at S$1,833 psf), Gems Ville’s S$2,091 psf average looks reasonable once you factor in the tenure differential. Over a 30-year hold, the freehold premium typically pays for itself and then some.
The catch, of course, is that you are trading facilities, scale, and neighbourhood prestige for tenure and price. Resale liquidity in a 24-unit development is structurally thinner than in a 1,000-unit mega-condo — there will be stretches where no comparable unit has transacted in the past 12 months, which makes bank valuations lumpier and exit timing more important. The 11 transactions recorded in the first 12 months post-TOP is actually a respectable early-velocity signal, but buyers planning a 3-year flip should go in with eyes open.
For a dual-income couple, a downsizing retiree, or a small family willing to trade facility breadth for a freehold tenure and city-fringe connectivity, Gems Ville is a coherent proposition. For a multi-kid family looking for a lifestyle condo with playgrounds, tennis, and BBQ pavilions, it is the wrong product in the wrong district and the S$2,091 psf would be better deployed at Parc Esta or Sims Urban Oasis.