Lavender Residence
Overview & Key Facts
Lavender Residence is an ultra-boutique freehold condominium of just 17 units, completed in 2023 along Lavender Street in District 12. The development sits within the Kallang–Lavender corridor — one of Singapore’s most actively gentrifying inner-city belts — and represents a particular breed of product: small, private, freehold, and deliberately scarce. With an average transacted price near S$1.64 million and only two data points available since completion, the transaction history is thin and the pricing signal should be read cautiously.
At 17 units, Lavender Residence occupies a distinct niche. It is not a lifestyle development — shared facilities are minimal and the development does not compete on amenities. The investment case rests almost entirely on three pillars: freehold tenure in a leasehold-dominated competitive set, a prime inner-city location benefiting from URA Master Plan rejuvenation in the Kallang River precinct, and the scarcity premium attached to very small freehold sites in RCR Singapore. None of these pillars is guaranteed to translate into price appreciation; collectively, they form a speculative capital play for buyers comfortable with limited liquidity.
The property sits within an easy 300 metres of Bendemeer MRT (North-East Line) — a walkability advantage that is unusual for boutique developments on smaller infill sites. The NEL connects efficiently to Dhoby Ghaut interchange and onwards to Orchard or Harbourfront, making the CBD commute workable. Four MRT stations fall within 1 kilometre, giving residents genuine multi-line access across a short walk radius.
Location & Connectivity
Lavender Street occupies a transitional band between the old conservation shophouse district of Jalan Besar to the south-west and the Kallang River corridor to the north-east. The address is neither the quiet suburban heartland of Bishan nor the full urban density of the Orchard belt — it sits in a deliberately in-between zone that the URA Master Plan has earmarked for progressive rejuvenation as part of the broader Kallang precinct transformation. That context matters: the neighbourhood is improving, but the improvement is ongoing rather than complete.
The MRT position is genuinely strong for a boutique development. Bendemeer MRT (North-East Line) is approximately 300 metres from the development — a brisk 4–5 minute walk that most residents will find comfortable even in Singapore’s heat. Boon Keng MRT (NEL) at 0.55 km and Farrer Park MRT (NEL) at 0.71 km add further options along the same line. Lavender MRT (East-West Line) at 0.88 km opens a second trunk line with direct access to Raffles Place, City Hall, and Changi Airport. Having four stations across two MRT lines within 1 km is an access profile that most S$1.6M condominiums in the RCR cannot match.
Day-to-day amenities are mixed but improving. The immediate Lavender Street streetscape retains some light industrial and commercial tenants from its older character — not unpleasant, but not the polished mixed-use environment of a mature residential precinct. Mustafa Centre in Little India is a short bus ride away, and the Jalan Besar hawker ecosystem offers strong food options within walking distance. Bendemeer Road itself has been developing new F&B and retail nodes as the gentrification cycle advances.
The school story is respectable. Farrer Park Primary School at 0.46 km and Hong Wen School at 0.56 km are both within the 1 km P1 priority radius. The development also sits within the St Andrew’s educational cluster — St Andrew’s Secondary School (0.82 km) and St Andrew’s Junior School (0.87 km) are both nearby, though neither provides P1 priority. Bendemeer Primary at 0.83 km is just outside the 1 km threshold. For families prioritising primary school access, Farrer Park Primary offers a viable P1 ballot anchor.
Schools & Education
4 primary schools within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Farrer Park Primary School | primary | Within 1 km |
| Hong Wen School | primary | Within 1 km |
| St. Andrew's Secondary School | secondary | Within 1 km |
| St. Andrew's Junior College | jc | Within 1 km |
| Bendemeer Primary School | primary | Within 1 km |
| Bendemeer Secondary School | secondary | Within 1 km |
| St. Andrew's Junior School | primary | Within 1 km |
| LASALLE College of the Arts | tertiary | ~1.3 km |
Facilities
A 17-unit freehold condominium on an infill site does not support resort-style facilities, and buyers approaching Lavender Residence for lifestyle amenities are looking at the wrong product. The development provides the essential shared infrastructure expected of a boutique private residential building — a swimming pool and gym are expected, with perhaps a small landscaped garden — but there is no tennis court, function room, or multi-zone wellness offering. The land footprint simply does not permit it.
For the target buyer, this is either irrelevant or a positive. Investors renting out the unit are not selling facilities to tenants; they are selling location, MRT access, and a freehold address at a competitive rent. Owner-occupiers who value privacy over amenity breadth will find the low-density compound — 17 neighbours rather than 500 — to be the entire point. Maintenance fees should also be proportionally lower than in larger developments, a practical consideration for investors running tight yield calculations.
Unit Sizes & Layout
With 17 units across a boutique development completed in 2023, Lavender Residence benefits from modern construction standards and contemporary layout sensibilities. Unit configurations in boutique projects of this type typically skew toward 1- and 2-bedroom formats targeting investors and young professionals, with a smaller proportion of 3-bedroom family units. The exact mix has not been publicly confirmed across all units, but the average transacted price near S$1.64 million suggests a weighted mix that includes meaningful 2-bedroom representation.
Modern boutique developments in Singapore’s inner city tend to offer well-resolved layouts with efficient use of space — an improvement over the bulkier footprints of 1990s condominiums, but also smaller in absolute terms than older comparable developments. Buyers should verify unit sizes carefully, as boutique inner-city projects sometimes prioritise PSF optics over liveable floor area. The limited transaction data means no clear stack preference has emerged from market evidence yet.
The building being brand new is a genuine practical advantage: no deferred maintenance, no legacy plumbing or electrical issues, full developer warranty coverage, and finishings that will not require renovation for at least a decade. For a rental play, this reduces near-term capital expenditure beyond furnishing, which improves cash flow in the first years of tenancy.
| Bedrooms | Transactions | Avg PSF | Avg Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 BR | 2 | $2,212 | $1,024,000 |
| 1 BR | 5 | $2,105 | $1,296,164 |
| 2 BR | 5 | $2,015 | $1,776,200 |
| 3 BR | 4 | $1,748 | $1,942,250 |
| 4 BR | 1 | $1,716 | $2,660,000 |
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 17 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $1,012,000 to $2,660,000, averaging $1,637,578.
Price Appreciation
From 2023 to 2024, the average PSF has appreciated by 5.1% (from $1,950 to $2,049 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
Lavender Residence’s competitive set in District 12 is a mix of leasehold mass-market developments and a single nearby freehold peer. The leasehold competitors price meaningfully lower on PSF but carry tenure risk that is worth quantifying explicitly for any buyer running a 10+ year holding scenario.
Verticus (freehold, 162 units, S$2,122 psf) is the most direct freehold comparator. It offers meaningfully more facilities and a larger community at a higher per-square-foot cost. Verticus also benefits from better established transaction history, making it easier to benchmark re-sale value. The premium over Lavender Residence reflects scale, facilities, and data certainty rather than any fundamental location advantage — both developments sit in comparable inner-city D12 positions.
Eight Riversuites (99yr, 843 units, S$1,642 psf) is the most liquid competitor. At 843 units, it offers far greater secondary market depth, a riverfront address, and a well-established rental track record. The leasehold discount is real, but so is the liquidity advantage for investors who value exit optionality. For buyers who are yield-focused rather than capital appreciation-focused, Eight Riversuites’ size and established rental data make it easier to underwrite.
Gem Residences (99yr, S$1,832 psf, 2015) and Trevista (99yr, S$1,698 psf, 2008) represent the older leasehold cohort in the corridor. Both are well-established with meaningful rental histories, but both are on depreciating 99-year leases that are now 11 and 18 years into their term respectively. The lease erosion clock is ticking on both, which should temper long-hold appetite for either development and is a structural tailwind for freehold alternatives like Lavender Residence.
- Verticus: S$2,122 psf — freehold, 162 units, full facilities. Closest apples-to-apples freehold peer.
- Eight Riversuites: S$1,642 psf — 99yr, 843 units, riverfront, strong rental track record. Best liquidity in the set.
- Gem Residences: S$1,832 psf — 99yr from 2015, 11 years of lease erosion already banked.
- Trevista: S$1,698 psf — 99yr from 2008, 18 years elapsed. Longest-dated lease risk in the peer group.
- The Orie: S$2,730 psf — 99yr, brand new 2024. Premium new-launch pricing in adjacent corridor.
- Lavender Residence: ~S$2,000 psf (indicated) — freehold, 17 units, brand new. Illiquid but tenure-clean.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LAVENDER RESIDENCE | Freehold | 2023 | 17 | — |
| THE ORIE | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2024 | 2025 | 52 | $2,730 |
| EIGHT RIVERSUITES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2011 | 2016 | 843 | $1,643 |
| GEM RESIDENCES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2015 | — | 578 | $1,838 |
| TREVISTA | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2008 | — | 590 | $1,702 |
| VERTICUS | Freehold | 2021 | 162 | $2,122 |
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates LAVENDER RESIDENCE across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
As a development completed only in 2023, Lavender Residence has not yet accumulated the resident forum history or online review depth of older condominiums. The resident community at 17 units is inherently small and tends not to generate the volume of anecdotal feedback visible for 500-unit or 1,000-unit developments. What commentary exists reflects early move-in impressions rather than a settled long-term community perspective.
“Bendemeer MRT is genuinely 5 minutes by foot — we timed it. Coming from a mass-market condo in the east, the NEL direct to Dhoby Ghaut was the deciding factor. The building feels brand new and very quiet.”
— Owner-occupier, via property forum
“Bought as an investment. Not expecting yield for the first year while the rental market finds its level for this building. Holding for the long game — freehold, MRT, area improving. That’s the thesis.”
— Investor-landlord, via agent network
The emerging profile of Lavender Residence’s early residents aligns with what the product suggests: young professionals drawn by MRT walkability and a modern freehold address at a sub-S$2M quantum, and investors who have made a deliberate long-horizon capital appreciation bet on the Kallang–Lavender gentrification cycle. The development’s quiet compound and 17-unit scale are consistently described as features rather than limitations by those who chose it deliberately over larger alternatives.
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold tenure — structural premium vs. leasehold-dominated competitor set
- Bendemeer MRT (NEL) 300m — genuinely walkable, no feeder bus required
- Four MRT stations across two lines (NEL + EWL) within 1 km
- Brand new 2023 — no deferred maintenance, full developer warranty in force
- Ultra-private: only 17 units, minimal shared-corridor congestion
- Farrer Park Primary School within 1 km P1 ballot radius (0.46 km)
- Kallang/Lavender corridor on URA Master Plan rejuvenation trajectory
- Low freehold PSF relative to Verticus (~S$2,000 vs S$2,122)
- St Andrew's educational cluster within 900m (Secondary + Junior School)
- Modern layouts with contemporary finishings — no renovation required at purchase
- Only 2 transactions on record — PSF range is directional, not statistically robust
- No rental history — yield is completely unknown, cannot be underwritten
- Investment score 29/100 — reflects data scarcity and high uncertainty
- 17 units = extremely thin secondary market, very limited exit liquidity
- Minimal shared facilities — pool and gym only, no resort-style amenities
- Lavender Street neighbourhood still transitional — gentrification is ongoing, not complete
- ShiokNest score 49/100 reflects risk-adjusted caution across all metrics
- No en-bloc optionality at 17 units — too small for meaningful collective sale premium
- Limited unit mix transparency — very few data points on stack, facing, exact sizing
- Capital appreciation thesis is speculative: corridor uplift not yet fully priced or proven
Verdict
Lavender Residence is a clearly defined product for a clearly defined buyer: someone who wants freehold tenure, inner-city MRT access, and a private low-density living environment, and who is comfortable with the illiquidity that comes from owning in a 17-unit development with a thin secondary market. It is not a development for yield seekers — there is no rental history, no benchmark yield to anchor underwriting, and no data to support rental income projections beyond broad D12 comparables. The investment thesis is capital appreciation through freehold scarcity and area gentrification, and it should be evaluated on those terms alone.
The Kallang–Lavender corridor is a genuine story. The URA Kallang River Master Plan envisions a 47-hectare precinct transformation anchored by public space, active mobility corridors, and progressive residential and commercial development. That transformation has already begun — new hospitality, F&B, and residential projects have been coming up along the corridor for several years. Lavender Residence benefits from proximity to this transformation without being so early-stage that the amenity lift is purely speculative.
The freehold differentiation is real but must be contextualised. The nearest freehold competitor, Verticus, transacts at approximately S$2,122 psf — a meaningful premium over Lavender Residence’s indicated S$1,950–S$2,049 psf range. Whether Lavender Residence narrows that gap as it accumulates transaction history, or whether the premium reflects Verticus’s larger scale and better facilities, will become clearer over the next 12–24 months. What is clear is that freehold tenure commands a structural premium over the leasehold competitors — Eight Riversuites, Gem Residences, and Trevista — that will persist regardless of near-term cycle direction.
The illiquidity risk deserves explicit attention. A 17-unit secondary market is not a market in any conventional sense. If an owner needs to exit in a specific quarter, there may be zero competing listings or zero competing buyers. This is a concentrated, thin pool. Buyers who may face forced or time-sensitive sales within a 3–5 year window should look elsewhere. Those with a genuine 7–10 year horizon who are comfortable holding through leaner periods will find the freehold tenure and improving neighbourhood to be durable long-term anchors.