La Maison
Overview & Key Facts
La Maison is a freehold boutique development on Moulmein Rise in prime District 11 — the tightly-held Novena sub-market where freehold land rarely changes hands and where most addresses carry a meaningful premium for tenure alone. Developed by Ho Bee Developments Pte Ltd and completed in 2000, the single block contains just 24 units, placing La Maison firmly in the rare-turnover, low-density corner of the Novena-Newton belt.
The development's core appeal is a combination that is increasingly scarce in the CCR: genuine freehold tenure, a Novena-Newton address within 400 metres of an MRT station, and a unit count small enough that neighbours recognise each other in the lift. Transaction records over the last 12 months show an average PSF of S$2,025 and a median price of S$2.48 million — numbers that look restrained next to the S$3,000+ psf new launches a few streets away, yet reflect a 25%+ appreciation over the five-year trend line.
La Maison's buyer profile skews heavily toward owner-occupiers and long-hold investors rather than short-term flippers. With only 24 units the resale market is thin by construction — transactions tend to be clustered, and listings can sit for months before the right buyer surfaces. That illiquidity is the flip side of the scarcity premium that freehold Novena boutiques command.
Location & Connectivity
La Maison sits on Moulmein Rise, a quiet residential slope between Moulmein Road and Thomson Road that backs onto the Novena medical belt. Novena MRT on the North-South Line is roughly 360 metres away — a genuine four-to-five minute walk that remains comfortable in Singapore's climate. The station puts Orchard two stops south and Bishan-Ang Mo Kio two stops north, and the integrated Square 2 / Velocity @ Novena mall above the station handles most day-to-day retail and dining needs.
For drivers, the location is close to optimal for a CCR address. The CTE is accessible within a minute via Thomson Road, which puts Raffles Place, Paya Lebar, and Changi within predictable reach. Orchard Road is a three-to-five minute drive via Scotts Road or Bukit Timah Road. Balestier Road's food belt — bak kut teh, chicken rice, and the 24-hour hawker scene at Whampoa — is a short drive or a 12-minute walk away for late-night suppers.
The most distinctive locational asset is the Health City Novena cluster — Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Novena, Novena Medical Centre, and a growing ecosystem of specialist clinics — all within a 10-minute walk. For senior buyers and families with elderly parents, this proximity is a genuine daily-use benefit that few other D11 addresses can match. Education is well-served too: CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace sits 240 metres away, and Anglo-Chinese School (Primary), Singapore Chinese Girls' School, and St. Joseph's Institution all fall within the 1.4 km radius.
Schools & Education
2 primary schools within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace | primary | Within 1 km |
| St. Margaret's Secondary School | secondary | Within 1 km |
| St. Margaret's Primary School | primary | Within 1 km |
| Singapore Chinese Girls' School (Primary) | primary | ~1.2 km |
| Farrer Park Primary School | primary | ~1.2 km |
| St. Joseph's Institution | secondary | ~1.3 km |
| Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) | primary | ~1.4 km |
| Beatty Secondary School | secondary | ~1.4 km |
Facilities
Facilities at La Maison are deliberately minimal and reflect the development's boutique scale. The shared amenities list covers the essentials: a lap pool, wading pool, gymnasium, BBQ pavilion, covered basement parking, and 24-hour security. There is no tennis court, no clubhouse, no function room — and for a 24-unit block, that is appropriate. Buyers weighing La Maison against mega-developments like Sky@Eleven or Soleil @ Sinaran will find the amenity offering sparse by comparison; buyers weighing it against other freehold D11 boutiques will find it standard.
The trade-off is straightforward: lighter facilities translate into lower maintenance fees per unit, and the pool is almost always empty outside peak weekends. For an owner-occupier who treats the gym as a convenience rather than a destination, this is a rational structure. For a buyer expecting resort-style amenities to justify the PSF, La Maison will disappoint — and such a buyer should be looking at a different size class entirely.
Maintenance fees, while higher per-square-foot than a mega-development due to fixed-cost sharing across only 24 units, remain moderate in absolute terms thanks to the short amenity list. Owners report that the managing agent is responsive and that common areas have aged well — a reflection of the consistent collection base that boutique freehold developments with stable ownership tend to produce.
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 11 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $2,038,000 to $2,560,000, averaging $2,376,982 (~$1,965 psf).
Rents range from $3,000 to $6,800 per month across 22 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 2.7%.
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2026, the average PSF has appreciated by 18.1% (from $1,614 to $1,906 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
The D11 freehold boutique segment is where La Maison's price discipline stands out most clearly. Pullman Residences Newton at ~S$3,075 psf and Watten House at ~S$3,236 psf offer newer leases and branded-developer finishings, but at roughly 50–60% PSF premiums — premiums that buyers are effectively paying for the first 5–10 years of new-launch shine. Peak Residence at ~S$2,489 psf is the closest like-for-like comparable: freehold, D11, boutique, but newer and slightly pricier per square foot. La Maison undercuts it by ~19% psf in exchange for a 25-year-older building.
Leasehold comparables tell a different story. Soleil @ Sinaran at ~S$1,970 psf (99-year lease from 2006) trades nearly at parity with La Maison on PSF — but La Maison's freehold tenure should, in theory, command a 10–15% premium. The fact that it does not suggests one of two things: either the market is discounting La Maison's boutique illiquidity, or Soleil's full-facility, MRT-integrated offering is worth the tenure gap to most buyers. Amaryllis Ville at ~S$1,899 psf (99-year from 1997) sits below both, reflecting its older leasehold structure. Buyers choosing between La Maison and Soleil are really choosing between tenure security (La Maison) and facility depth plus unit count liquidity (Soleil) — neither is wrong, but they solve different problems.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LA MAISON | Freehold | 2000 | 24 | $1,965 |
| 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 LA MAISON across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“Quiet, well-kept freehold block in a genuinely convenient part of Novena. Four minutes to the MRT, five minutes to Tan Tock Seng, and the neighbours have mostly been here for years. You don't get the resort facilities of the new launches, but you also don't pay for them.”
— Owner review via EdgeProp
“Layout is the main reason we bought here. After viewing a dozen newer 3-bedrooms in D11 that felt like hotel suites, the proportions at La Maison felt like an actual home. Kitchen has a proper yard, bedrooms take real furniture.”
— Resident review via PropertyGuru
“Small development so the downside is that turnover is slow and listings are scarce. When we wanted to upgrade within the same block we waited almost 14 months for a suitable stack to come up. That's the boutique freehold trade-off.”
— Owner review via Singapore Expats
The pattern across review platforms is consistent with a mature freehold boutique: long-tenure owners, limited complaints about management (the small MCST is easier to coordinate than a 500-unit tower), and a recurring acknowledgement that the amenity set is deliberately light. Listings data confirms that unit turnover is slow — a feature, not a bug, for buyers who value a stable neighbour base.
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold tenure in prime D11 Novena — rare and tightly held
- Genuinely walkable to Novena MRT (~360 m, 4–5 min)
- Dual-school catchment — CHIJ OLQP (0.24 km) + St. Margaret's Primary (0.81 km) in 1 km band
- Health City Novena medical belt within 10-minute walk
- Generous 3-bedroom floor plates (1,100–1,300 sqft) vs new-launch sizes
- Traditional family-friendly layouts with proper kitchen yards
- Meaningful discount vs freehold new launches (~30–35% below Pullman/Watten)
- Consistent 5-year PSF appreciation ($1,614 → $2,025)
- Low-density neighbour stability (24 units)
- Lower maintenance fees than mega-developments due to lean amenity set
- Thin resale market — only 24 units, listings can be scarce
- Gross yield of 2.59% is thin for an investor-led strategy
- 2000-vintage finishings — most units need $80k–$200k renovation
- Minimal facilities (pool, gym, BBQ) — no tennis, clubhouse, or function room
- Small MCST means limited scope for future common-area upgrades
- Narrow unit mix (mostly 3-bedroom + 1 penthouse) — no 1-BR entry point
- Rental comparables scarce, tenant hunt can stretch longer than typical
- Per-sqft maintenance fees higher than mega-developments (fixed costs across 24 units)
Verdict
La Maison is a tidy answer to a specific question: what does freehold, MRT-proximate, school-catchment D11 look like below the S$2,200 psf line? At S$2,025 psf average, it sits roughly 30–35% below freehold new launches like Pullman Residences Newton (~S$3,075 psf) and Watten House (~S$3,236 psf), while offering genuinely comparable tenure, a comparable MRT walk, and a stronger school catchment than most. The trade is the building's age, its minimalist facilities, and the thin resale market that boutique 24-unit developments inherently produce.
For an owner-occupier family prioritising school catchment, medical-belt proximity, and long-hold tenure security, the value case is straightforward. You are buying freehold land in Novena at a sub-S$2.5 million median — a price point that is essentially unavailable at newer, larger developments in the same postal code. The five-year PSF trajectory (S$1,614 → S$2,025) is also supportive: appreciation has tracked the broader CCR freehold trend without the launch-day premium decay that new launches suffer in their first three years.
For an investor chasing yield, the calculus is harder. The 2.59% gross yield is thin by any standard, and the 24-unit scale means rental comparables are scarce — a landlord's tenant hunt can stretch longer than at a better-known address. This is a capital preservation asset, not a cash-flow asset. Buyers who understand and accept that framing will be well-served; buyers who do not should be looking at newer, larger leasehold stock with deeper rental liquidity.