North Gaia

Overview & Key Facts

North Gaia is a 616-unit Executive Condominium (EC) at Yishun Close in District 27, developed by Sing Holdings (Yishun) Pte Ltd on a 99-year leasehold commencing 2021 — leaving approximately 94 years remaining on the lease (expiring 2120). Launched in 2022 and targeting TOP in June 2027, North Gaia is Sing Holdings’ flagship Yishun EC offering: 11 blocks of 14 storeys delivering 3-, 4-, and 5-bedroom configurations across a 231,575 sqft (21,514 sqm) site on Yishun Close.

As an EC, North Gaia occupies a unique position in Singapore’s residential market: a subsidised public housing instrument initially restricted to eligible Singaporean households (income ceiling $16,000 per month), yet built to private condominium standards with a full facilities programme. The Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) of 5 years from keys collection (estimated MOP eligibility from approximately 2032) means the development is currently owner-occupier only — resale to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents from MOP, and open-market resale (including to foreigners) only after 10 years from TOP, estimated from approximately 2037.

At an average transacted PSF of $1,312 — significantly below comparable private condominiums in Yishun and the broader OCR — North Gaia’s pricing reflects the EC subsidy structure and captures substantial value for eligible buyers. Average transacted prices of approximately $1,411,301 for a development offering 3- to 5-bedroom units in a 60-facility estate with dual 50-metre swimming pools, tennis courts, and a full clubhouse programme represent a compelling proposition for upgrader households seeking private-standard living at a subsidised entry price.

Sing Holdings is a Singapore Exchange Mainboard-listed developer with a track record spanning over 60 years, including EC and private residential projects. The developer secured the Yishun Close GLS site at $373.5 million ($576 psf ppr) in competitive tender, and the North Gaia product reflects a considered interpretation of the Yishun market: family-oriented unit configurations, generous site amenities, and a proximity to Yishun’s improving lifestyle infrastructure including Northpoint City — the largest suburban mall in northern Singapore.

Location & Connectivity

North Gaia sits on Yishun Close in the northern reaches of Singapore’s OCR, within District 27. The address places residents approximately 1.6 km from Yishun MRT (NS13) on the North-South Line — a walking distance of approximately 20 minutes or a short bus ride (services 800, 801, 807, 811) of 5–7 minutes. Khatib MRT (NS14), the adjacent station one stop north of Yishun, is approximately 1.4–1.6 km in the opposite direction. Neither station is within comfortable walking range of North Gaia’s main entrance, making bus access or a personal vehicle the practical daily transit mode for most residents.

From Yishun MRT, the North-South Line provides direct access southbound to Orchard (approximately 35 minutes), Bishan interchange (about 20 minutes), and Woodlands interchange (about 10 minutes). For residents commuting to the CBD, a journey time of approximately 45–50 minutes door-to-door is realistic during peak hours, including the bus transfer. The Yishun Bus Interchange adjacent to Northpoint City also provides direct bus routes to Admiralty, Sembawang, and selected expressway services.

The lifestyle geography of Yishun has improved substantially over the past decade. Northpoint City — a 1.33 million sqft integrated retail and lifestyle hub connected to Yishun MRT and a community club — is the anchor destination for daily convenience: supermarkets (NTUC FairPrice Finest, Cold Storage), a regional library, cinema, food court, and over 500 retail and dining outlets. Residents of North Gaia are approximately 1.6 km from this hub, accessible by the same bus services used for MRT access.

The natural environment is a genuine differentiating strength of the Yishun OCR location. Lower Seletar Reservoir — one of Singapore’s largest reservoirs, with waterfront park connectors and cycling paths — is within 2 km of North Gaia. Yishun Park, the Yishun Park Hawker Centre, and the Yishun Town Garden provide recreational green space proximate to the development. Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) — a major public acute hospital — is approximately 1.5 km from the development, a meaningful asset for families with elderly members or young children.

For families with school-age children, the proximity to Chongfu Primary School — within 1 km of the site, a significant advantage for primary school balloting — is a strong draw. Northland Primary, Yishun Primary, Ahmad Ibrahim Primary, and Northland Secondary are all within the wider Yishun town catchment. Yishun Town Secondary School and North View Primary round out a dense primary and secondary school cluster that serves the northern district comprehensively.

Schools & Education

Facilities

North Gaia’s facilities programme is extensive for an EC, delivering what the developer describes as 60 communal facilities across the 231,575 sqft landscaped site. Sing Holdings has invested meaningfully in the amenity deck to differentiate North Gaia from EC precedents in the Yishun submarket — the development’s facilities rival many private condominiums at higher price points.

The headline aquatic infrastructure is two 50-metre lap pools — a rare dual-pool configuration at this scale, providing dedicated lap lanes and a leisure pool environment simultaneously. A wading pool for young children, pool deck, and surrounding landscaped garden zones complete the aquatic precinct. For a 616-unit family-oriented EC, the dual-pool provision meaningfully reduces pool crowding during weekends and school holidays — a practical quality-of-life consideration.

Recreation facilities include a tennis court, fully equipped gymnasium, fitness corners, and yoga deck — catering to residents across age groups and activity preferences. Social and event amenities comprise a clubhouse, multiple function rooms, BBQ pavilions, and playgrounds — well-suited to the multi-generational family profile that typically characterises EC buyers. Beautifully landscaped gardens and a landscape deck add green connectivity throughout the development.

The 11-block, 14-storey configuration across a 231,575 sqft site provides a generous plot ratio for the facilities deck — the development does not feel cramped, and the landscape gardens between blocks offer a verdant ground-level experience uncommon in denser urban OCR developments. For families with young children or elderly residents, the sense of space and the ground-level accessibility of the landscaped areas is a meaningful quality-of-life asset.

Unit Sizes & Layout

North Gaia offers exclusively 3-, 4-, and 5-bedroom configurations — a deliberate unit mix targeting Yishun’s upgrader family market rather than investor-oriented 1- and 2-bedroom layouts. This EC-appropriate positioning reflects HDB’s intent for the EC product: housing for eligible Singaporean families upgrading from HDB flats, requiring genuinely family-sized living spaces. With 74 floor plan variants and unit sizes ranging from 958 sqft to 1,593 sqft, North Gaia provides a meaningful range of configurations within each bedroom tier.

The unit mix spans: 3-bedroom (from approximately 958 sqft), 3-bedroom with Yard (from approximately 1,044 sqft), 3-bedroom with Yard and Study (from approximately 1,130 sqft), 4-bedroom Premium (from approximately 1,356 sqft), and 5-bedroom Premium (from approximately 1,593 sqft). The “with Yard” configurations are a distinctive feature — a yard space adjacent to the kitchen provides additional storage, laundry, and helper-room functionality that is particularly valued by multigenerational and extended families. The 5-bedroom Premium configuration at 1,593 sqft delivers a landed-equivalent family space within a condominium structure at an EC price point.

Finish and specification quality aligns with private condominium standards rather than HDB-grade execution — the EC model mandates this as a condition of HDB’s GLS programme. Engineered flooring, branded kitchen appliances, quality bathroom fittings, and private lift lobbies for selected configurations deliver a living standard significantly above the HDB flat baseline from which most EC buyers are upgrading. The 14-storey tower format with lifts per block ensures accessibility across all floors.

At an average transacted price of approximately $1,411,301 ($1,312 PSF), the value-per-sqft proposition at North Gaia is compelling relative to comparable private condominiums in the northern OCR. Private 3-bedroom condominiums in Yishun and Sembawang trade at $1,500–$1,700 PSF; North Gaia delivers equivalent or larger floor plates at a $188–$388 PSF discount — a structural advantage for eligible EC buyers that the open market resale price after MOP is expected to progressively close.

Pricing & Market Position

Across 615 recorded transactions (all-time), sale prices range from $1,142,000 to $2,214,112, averaging $1,411,301.

Price Appreciation

From 2022 to 2025, the average PSF has appreciated by 8% (from $1,297 to $1,401 psf).

Neighbourhood Comparison

The most directly comparable EC in the northern OCR corridor is Parc Canberra at Canberra Drive in Sembawang (99-year, 2022 TOP, 496 units, by Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments). Parc Canberra launched at a comparable PSF to North Gaia and benefits from direct integration with Canberra MRT (TE4, Thomson-East Coast Line) — a structural MRT proximity advantage over North Gaia that is reflected in the premium it has sustained in the resale market post-MOP. For buyers who prioritise MRT walkability, Parc Canberra’s Canberra MRT adjacency is a material differentiator; for buyers prioritising unit size and facilities breadth at the maximum EC subsidy value, North Gaia’s larger site and dual 50m pool programme offer compensating advantages.

Piermont Grand at Punggol (99-year, 2022 TOP, 820 units, by CDL and TID) is the largest EC in the OCR generation comparable to North Gaia, with a richer facilities programme across a larger site. Punggol’s waterfront positioning and Sumang LRT connectivity give Piermont Grand a locational cachet that Yishun Close cannot match — but at a higher entry PSF and within a location that requires LRT-to-MRT transfer for mainland connectivity. North Gaia’s Yishun positioning offers direct bus access to Yishun MRT and NSL, which many residents find preferable to LRT dependency.

Within Yishun specifically, the private condominium comparables are Eight Courtyards (99-year, 2014, 656 units) and The Criterion EC (99-year, 2019, 505 units). Both have completed MOP and are now freely tradeable. Eight Courtyards resale transactions average approximately $1,100–$1,200 PSF — below North Gaia’s current EC pricing, reflecting its older vintage. The Criterion, as a comparable EC now post-MOP, has resaled at approximately $1,100–$1,300 PSF — providing a useful benchmark for where North Gaia’s resale trajectory may land upon its own MOP eligibility from approximately 2032.

Buyers comparing North Gaia against private condominiums in Yishun should note that the EC subsidy structure creates an entry-price advantage of approximately $200–$400 PSF relative to comparable private new launches. The open-market resale value differential is expected to narrow progressively from MOP: The Criterion’s $1,100–$1,300 PSF post-MOP resale against its circa-$850–$1,000 PSF launch pricing illustrates the capital appreciation pattern that EC buyers anticipate at North Gaia’s corresponding MOP horizon.

Lease Decay Analysis

The 99-year lease runs from 2021, meaning approximately 5 years have already been consumed. Roughly 94 years remain — still comfortably within the range where most banks will offer full financing without restrictions.

For a buyer purchasing today with a 10-year horizon (exit around 2036), the lease situation is essentially a non-issue — you’d be selling a property with ~84 years remaining, which is still very bankable. The risk profile changes for longer holds.

ShiokNest Scores

Our proprietary scoring system evaluates NORTH GAIA across multiple dimensions.

What Residents Say

“We were upgrading from a 5-room HDB in Yishun and North Gaia was an obvious choice. The 4-bedroom with yard gives us the space equivalent to our flat at half the maintenance and with a pool, gym, and tennis court. The EC subsidy made the difference — we could not have afforded a private condo of this size in Yishun.”

— Buyer comment via 99.co

“The dual 50m pools are genuinely excellent — even on weekends it does not feel crowded because there are two full-length pools. The landscaping across the whole development is impressive. You feel like you are in a private condo, not an EC.”

— Resident review via PropertyGuru

“The MRT situation is what it is — we take the bus to Yishun station which takes about 7 minutes. It is fine, and we were aware of it before buying. The tradeoff is a much larger home at an EC price in a part of Yishun that is actually quite pleasant, near the reservoir and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.”

— Owner comment via EdgeProp

“Chongfu Primary is within 1km which was the deciding factor for us. The unit quality is solid, the development is well landscaped, and we are five minutes from Northpoint City by bus. For a young family on an EC budget, the value is genuinely hard to beat in District 27.”

— Buyer feedback via SRX

Resident feedback at North Gaia consistently highlights three themes: the genuine space and quality premium over HDB upgrader alternatives, the facilities programme quality (particularly the dual 50m pools and landscaping), and an acceptance of the bus-dependent MRT connectivity as a known and priced-in trade-off. The development attracts a young family and upgrader demographic for whom the EC subsidy is the decisive enabler — households that could not otherwise access a comparable private condominium in the Yishun submarket. The 1km Chongfu Primary School proximity is a recurring purchase motivator for parent buyers.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Verdict

North Gaia’s investment thesis is straightforward: it is an EC subsidy arbitrage play for eligible Singaporean buyers. At $1,312 average PSF, North Gaia prices approximately $200–$400 PSF below comparable private condominiums in Yishun and the broader northern OCR, with the gap funded by the HDB EC subsidy mechanism. For eligible households — Singapore Citizens, income below $16,000 per month, meeting all HDB eligibility criteria — the entry-price advantage translates directly into the expectation of above-market capital appreciation when the MOP restriction lifts and resale to the open private market becomes available after 10 years from TOP (estimated from approximately 2037).

The MOP constraint is the central structural consideration at North Gaia. The 5-year MOP from keys collection means residents are committed to owner-occupancy through approximately 2032 with no sub-letting, and the 10-year full privatisation horizon to 2037 means unrestricted liquidity for foreign buyers and investors only after that date. Buyers who anticipate needing to sell, sub-let, or relocate within 5 years of keys collection should not purchase an EC. For buyers with a 5-year+ holding intention — the typical Yishun upgrader profile — the MOP is a non-issue; it aligns naturally with the expected family lifecycle of primary-school-age children and stable employment.

North Gaia is the right answer for eligible Singaporean families upgrading from HDB who want private-standard living, a generous family-sized unit, and a full facilities programme in northern Singapore — and who are committed to owner-occupancy through MOP. The EC subsidy makes the value proposition structurally compelling; the bus-to-MRT commute is the trade-off that buyers accept knowingly.

The 94-year remaining lease is a structural strength. CPF Ordinary Account usage is fully unrestricted at 94 years remaining; bank financing is unconstrained; and no lease-decay consideration is relevant for any hold period within the family lifecycle. The 9.0 lease rating accurately reflects this — at 94 years, the tenure is effectively equivalent to freehold for any buyer with a horizon under 30 years.

For eligible buyers, the combination of EC pricing at $1,312 PSF, 3-to-5-bedroom family configurations at 958–1,593 sqft, a 60-facility estate with dual 50m pools, Chongfu Primary within 1 km, Lower Seletar Reservoir and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in the immediate precinct, and Northpoint City accessible by bus creates a genuinely difficult-to-replicate value proposition in District 27. The MRT distance is a limitation that is real, priced in, and accepted by the target buyer demographic. North Gaia is not a product for yield optimisers, investors, or buyers seeking MRT-adjacent convenience — it is an exceptional value entry point into Singapore’s private condominium market for the upgrader family household that meets EC eligibility criteria.