Penrith
Penrith is one of District 3’s freshest 99-year leasehold launches — a 462-unit development on Margaret Drive, sitting at the heart of the Queenstown rejuvenation corridor. Issued on a 99-year lease from 2024 (~99 years remaining as of this review) and reporting a 2025 Temporary Occupation Permit, Penrith’s defining structural advantage is a near-pristine lease runway combined with Rest-of-Central-Region (RCR) positioning — a combination that has become increasingly scarce as the post-2017 RCR pipeline ages into its first resale cycle. Developed as part of the Margaret Rise redevelopment cluster, the project targets buyers who want fresh-lease optionality without paying CCR pricing for the privilege.
This review weighs the genuine strengths — near-100-year lease, Queenstown MRT walkability on the East-West Line, and the Greater Southern Waterfront upside — against the more contested elements: 462-unit absorption into an already-dense Queenstown supply pipeline, RCR premium pricing competing against newer OCR launches, and direct competition from Margaret Ville, Stirling Residences, and Promenade Peak in the same buyer pool. Compare positioning against neighbouring options using our side-by-side comparison tool, and contextualise pricing within the broader District 3 market.
Snapshot as of 2026-05 — figures above reflect publicly available URA/HDB data at the time of this editorial review (as of 2026-05).
District 3 covers Queenstown, Tiong Bahru, and Alexandra — a tri-precinct in the middle of a generational reset. Queenstown, Singapore’s first satellite town (1953), is being progressively rebuilt: the URA Master Plan earmarks the precinct for mixed-use intensification, the HDB Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) continues to clear older blocks, and the Greater Southern Waterfront programme will eventually reshape the southern coastline anchoring D3’s southern edge. Penrith sits squarely inside this transition on the Margaret Drive corridor, a stretch that has seen successive Government Land Sales site awards including Margaret Ville and the Margaret Rise cluster.
Connectivity is the project’s structural anchor. Queenstown MRT (EW19) on the East-West Line is a short walk — three EWL stops to Raffles Place and four to Tanjong Pagar — placing Penrith among the small subset of RCR developments with sub-15-minute CBD access by rail. Surrounding amenities lean utilitarian-meets-lifestyle: IKEA Alexandra, Anchorpoint, Queensway Shopping Centre, and the Henderson Wave pedestrian bridge connecting to Mount Faber. Layer in proximity to one-north, Mapletree Business City, and the Greater Southern Waterfront pipeline, and the long-term thesis is straightforward: a maturing precinct with sustained employment and transport tailwinds. The pricing question is whether 2024 launch psf — on a fresh-lease premium — has already capitalised that thesis. Stress-test the affordability envelope with our affordability calculator and review heatmap context via the price heatmap.
Overview & Key Facts
Penrith is a 462-unit luxury condominium at Margaret Drive in District 3, developed by GuocoLand and Hong Leong Holdings on a 99-year leasehold commencing 2024. Rising as two 40-storey towers designed by ADDP Architects, Penrith occupies a 102,497 sqft Government Land Sales site acquired by Margaret Rise Development Pte Ltd (a GuocoLand–Hong Leong joint venture) at S$497 million ($1,154 psf ppr) in 2024 — one of the most keenly contested Queenstown tenders in recent years. With approximately 97 years remaining on the lease and an expected TOP in 2029, Penrith represents the newest and most contemporary residential benchmark in the established Queenstown estate.
The development sits at the intersection of two powerful macro tailwinds: the maturation of Queenstown as one of Singapore’s most coveted city-fringe addresses, and the long-term Greater Southern Waterfront (GSW) transformation that will progressively reshape the entire corridor from Harbourfront to Pasir Panjang over the next two decades. At an average transacted price of $2,499,920 and an average PSF of $2,795, Penrith prices at a level that reflects both the premium of the immediate Queenstown micro-location and the aspirational premium of a brand-new 2024-vintage product in a mature estate that has historically seen very limited new supply.
The 97% sales take-up rate at launch — leaving only 12 of 462 units unsold at time of writing — is a decisive indicator of market validation. Buyers clearly priced in the MRT proximity (330m to Queenstown EWL), the Queenstown Primary School footstep catchment (90m), the GuocoLand–Hong Leong development pedigree, and the scarcity value of a fresh leasehold product in a neighbourhood that was last significantly renewed a generation ago. The near-complete sell-out also establishes a high baseline for resale and secondary-market pricing once TOP is achieved.
For a very new launch with no rental history yet established, the investment thesis rests squarely on capital appreciation within the GSW corridor, lease premium (97 years fully unrestricted for CPF and bank financing), and the lifestyle proposition of a premium ADDP-designed tower in one of Singapore’s most walkable and amenity-rich mature estates.
Location & Connectivity
Margaret Drive occupies one of the most strategically positioned residential addresses in the Queenstown submarket. The street lies within the established Queenstown housing estate — a mature HDB-and-private residential precinct that stretches across the central sections of District 3, bounded by Commonwealth Avenue to the north, Alexandra Road to the east, and the Ayer Rajah corridor to the south. Unlike many new launches that require buyers to accept a peripheral or transitional location in exchange for new-build freshness, Penrith sits within an already fully-served neighbourhood with decades of retail, educational, transport, and social infrastructure already in place.
MRT connectivity is Penrith’s most headline-worthy infrastructure asset. Queenstown MRT (EW19) on the East-West Line is approximately 330m from the development — a three-to-four minute walk under normal conditions. The East-West Line from Queenstown provides direct access to Raffles Place (5 stops), City Hall (6 stops), Changi Airport (approximately 40 minutes without transfer), Jurong East (8 stops), and the Buona Vista interchange (2 stops, Circle Line connection). For residents travelling to the CBD, Orchard Road, or the one-north business corridor, Queenstown EWL is a genuinely convenient daily commute asset. Redhill MRT (EW18) is approximately 1.1km to the east, providing a second EWL access point for residents in the upper towers.
The daily lifestyle geography of Margaret Drive is exceptionally well-served for a city-fringe address. Within 500m: Dawson Place (a neighbourhood retail node), Queenstown Primary School (90m — effective primary-one registration advantage for families), Queenstown Community Club, and the Queenstown hawker centre. Within one kilometre: Anchorpoint Shopping Centre, Alexandra Retail Centre, IKEA Alexandra (one of Singapore’s two full-format IKEA stores), and the Alexandra Hospital cluster. Queensway Shopping Centre — a Singapore institution known for sports goods, tailoring, and budget dining — is under ten minutes on foot. The density of functional amenity at this address is a meaningful differentiator for owner-occupiers who value day-to-day convenience without car dependency.
The Greater Southern Waterfront transformation is the medium-to-long-term macro tailwind for this address. URA’s master plan for the GSW envisions a 2,000-hectare corridor from Pasir Panjang to Marina East, encompassing the future relocation of Pasir Panjang Terminal, new waterfront housing precincts, expanded park connectors, and commercial development nodes. The Queenstown–Alexandra corridor is identified as a key residential and mixed-use transition zone in this transformation. While the full realisation of the GSW vision spans multiple decades, the progressive development of parcels within and adjacent to the corridor will create a structural capital appreciation environment for well-located existing private residential stock — of which Penrith will be among the newest and best-specified.
For families, the school catchment is a stand-out feature of this address. Queenstown Primary School at 90m is effectively a doorstep school — a registration-distance advantage that is rare for a private condominium and that materially improves the proposition for families with primary-school-age children. Crescent Girls’ School, New Town Primary (1.1km), and Gan Eng Seng Primary (1.35km) provide further educational catchment depth. The proximity to National University of Singapore (via one MRT stop to Buona Vista, then Circle Line) and Singapore Polytechnic adds graduate and tertiary educational access to the neighbourhood profile.
Schools & Education
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Tanglin Trust School | international | Within 1 km |
| Crescent Girls' School | secondary | Within 1 km |
| CHIJ (Kellock) | primary | ~1.0 km |
| Queenstown Primary School | primary | ~1.1 km |
| Alexandra Primary School | primary | ~1.1 km |
| Queensway Secondary School | secondary | ~1.1 km |
| Global Indian International School (GIIS Queenstown) | international | ~1.1 km |
| River Valley Primary School | primary | ~1.2 km |
Facilities
Penrith’s facilities programme reflects the premium positioning of a 2024-vintage GuocoLand–Hong Leong joint-venture development at the $2,795 PSF price tier. ADDP Architects — who have delivered benchmark residential projects across the Singapore market — have designed the two 40-storey towers with a vertically distributed amenity strategy that integrates ground-level recreational facilities with upper-floor sky amenity decks, providing residents with both the traditional resort-pool experience at grade and the panoramic city-fringe view experience from elevated sky lounges.
Ground and podium facilities include a swimming pool and leisure pool, a children’s splash pool and dedicated children’s playground, a fully equipped gymnasium, a tennis court, BBQ pavilions, and a function-capable clubhouse with reading library and lounge areas. The ground-level ECDC (Early Childhood Development Centre) incorporated into the development adds a rare built-in childcare facility that directly benefits families with young children — a practical amenity that reduces the typical parent-logistics burden for dual-income household residents.
The garden gazebo and landscaped ground-level spaces reflect ADDP’s approach to creating calm, well-planted residential environments — a design philosophy described as “practical layouts and modern comforts with well-proportioned living areas, ample storage, and clearly defined zones.” For a development of 462 units across two 40-storey towers, the land-to-unit ratio of 102,497 sqft (approximately 222 sqft per unit) is not large by landed or low-rise standards, but the vertical distribution of amenity across sky levels compensates meaningfully for the constrained ground-plane.
The ECDC ground-floor integration is a distinguishing feature not common in Singapore private residential developments. The availability of an Early Childhood Development Centre within the development — operated independently but architecturally integrated into the podium — provides a tangible daily-life convenience for young families that many comparable new launches at this price point do not offer.
Unit Sizes & Layout
Penrith’s 462 units are distributed across two 40-storey towers in configurations of 2-, 3-, and 4-bedroom types (no 1-bedroom units), with premium variants within each tier offering enhanced spatial planning and upgraded specifications. The absence of 1-bedroom units is a deliberate positioning signal: Penrith is targeted at owner-occupier families and genuine residential buyers in the Queenstown catchment, not at the compact-investor segment that typically dominates smaller-format launches. This unit-mix positioning aligns with the development’s school-catchment strength and family-oriented neighbourhood profile.
Two-bedroom units start from approximately 614 sqft — efficiently planned for working-professional couples and small families. The 2-bedroom premium variant (the remaining 12 units at launch) offers enhanced proportions within the same bedroom count. Three-bedroom configurations provide the development’s most versatile unit type for the typical Queenstown owner-occupier buyer profile — a growing family needing the school-catchment advantage of Queenstown Primary and the transport connectivity of Queenstown EWL for dual-income daily commutes. Four-bedroom and 4-bedroom premium configurations at the upper end of the unit mix cater to larger families and buyers seeking a landed-equivalent space standard within the tower format.
The design specification at Penrith reflects the 2024-vintage standard for a GuocoLand–Hong Leong joint venture at the $2,795 PSF level: quality kitchen fittings, engineered timber or marble flooring in living areas, branded bathroom fittings, and ADDP Architects’ signature approach of “calm, refined, and well-planned” interior design language. The overall unit quality proposition is strong for buyers in the premium RCR family-residential segment who want new-build specification, full CPF eligibility (97-year lease), and proximity to one of Singapore’s most sought-after primary school registration zones.
| Bedrooms | Transactions | Avg PSF | Avg Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 BR | 143 | $2,754 | $1,787,007 |
| 2 BR | 156 | $2,782 | $2,336,372 |
| 3 BR | 152 | $2,849 | $3,343,230 |
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 451 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $1,440,000 to $3,935,000, averaging $2,501,523 (~$2,796 psf).
Price Appreciation
From 2025 to 2026, the average PSF has appreciated by 7.5% (from $2,794 to $3,005 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
The most structurally comparable new-launch to Penrith within the D3–D4 Queenstown–Alexandra corridor is The Landmark at Chin Swee Road (D3, 396 units, 99-year, 2025 TOP, by MCC Land). The Landmark transacts at approximately $2,100–$2,400 PSF in recent resale, a PSF discount to Penrith that reflects both its older vintage (2020 launch vs 2025 launch) and its greater distance from Queenstown MRT (approximately 700m vs Penrith’s 330m). The comparison illustrates the location and vintage premium that Penrith commands within the same submarket: being 400m closer to Queenstown EWL and four years newer in vintage is worth approximately $400–$600 PSF in this corridor.
Commonwealth Towers at Commonwealth Avenue (D3, 845 units, 99-year, 2017 TOP, by City Developments Limited) provides the relevant historical comparable for understanding the MRT-proximity premium in this submarket. Commonwealth Towers is 100m from Commonwealth MRT (EW20) and transacts at approximately $1,800–$2,000 PSF in recent resale — a significant PSF discount to Penrith’s $2,795 despite comparable MRT proximity, reflecting the nine-year age difference and the post-2020 new-launch pricing escalation. The trajectory from Commonwealth Towers’ 2017 resale values to Penrith’s 2025 launch PSF establishes the expected appreciation corridor for a new-launch 99-year product with strong MRT proximity in the Queenstown sub-market.
Alex Residences at Alexandra View (D3, 293 units, freehold, 2016 TOP, by SingHaiyi) represents the freehold alternative in the same neighbourhood: resale transactions average approximately $1,700–$1,900 PSF, a PSF discount to Penrith despite freehold tenure, illustrating that vintage and facility quality can outweigh tenure premium in buyer perception, particularly when the leasehold product offers 97 years versus a freehold product from 2016.
Within the same immediate area, the nearest comparable in terms of developer pedigree is Stirling Residences at Stirling Road (D3, 1,259 units, 99-year, 2022 TOP, by Logan Property and Nanshan Group) — approximately 700m from Queenstown MRT and transacting at approximately $1,900–$2,100 PSF resale. Penrith commands a $700–$900 PSF premium over Stirling Residences in the same District 3 micro-market, reflecting the 330m-versus-700m MRT distance advantage and the 2025-versus-2022 vintage differential. For buyers who view MRT distance as the primary RCR valuation driver — which the Singapore buyer pool broadly does — the Penrith-versus-Stirling comparison is the clearest data point for the MRT-proximity premium in this sub-market.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PENRITH | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2024 | 2025 | 462 | $2,796 |
| ZYON GRAND | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2024 | 2025 | 1,079 | $3,052 |
| AVENUE SOUTH RESIDENCE | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2018 | 2021 | 1,074 | $2,261 |
| STIRLING RESIDENCES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2017 | 2021 | 1,259 | $2,275 |
| ONE PEARL BANK | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2019 | 2021 | 774 | $2,569 |
| PROMENADE PEAK | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2024 | 2025 | 596 | $2,981 |
Lease Decay Analysis
The 99-year lease runs from 2024, meaning approximately 2 years have already been consumed. Roughly 97 years remain — still comfortably within the range where most banks will offer full financing without restrictions.
| Year | Lease remaining | Implication |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 (now) | ~97 years | Full bank financing available |
| 2054 | ~69 years | CPF usage still unrestricted for most buyers |
| 2063 | ~59 years | Approaching 60-year threshold — CPF limits begin for some |
| 2083 | ~39 years | Significant financing restrictions for next buyer |
| 2123 | Expiry | Lease reverts to state |
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 ~87 years remaining, which is still very bankable. The risk profile changes for longer holds.
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates PENRITH across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“The 330m walk to Queenstown MRT was the deciding factor. I’m at Raffles Place in under 20 minutes. For two professionals commuting daily, this location is as good as it gets on the EWL without paying CCR prices.”
— Buyer comment via 99.co
“Queenstown Primary School is literally 90 metres from the entrance. For our daughter’s P1 registration, the distance priority was immediate. That alone justified our decision over other D3 launches that were further away.”
— Owner comment via PropertyGuru
“GuocoLand and Hong Leong together is a formidable development track record. I’ve followed their past projects — the quality is consistently delivered. At $2,795 PSF for 97 years remaining in Queenstown, the value case is clear when you compare to what’s available in CCR.”
— Investor comment via EdgeProp
“The Greater Southern Waterfront is 10–20 years away but the trajectory is clear. Buying a 2024-vintage product 330m from Queenstown MRT with 97 years on the lease in a GSW-adjacent corridor at $2,795 PSF is a position I am very comfortable with as a long-hold investor.”
— Buyer comment via SRX
The buyer profile that emerges from launch feedback is characteristically Queenstown: dual-income professional couples and young families who value MRT proximity, school catchment quality, and neighbourhood maturity over the glitter of CCR addresses — and who are sophisticated enough to recognise that a 97-year lease in a mature estate with strong rental demand and imminent GSW tailwinds is a structurally sound medium-to-long-term capital allocation. The 97% launch take-up rate validates this buyer conviction at scale.
1. Fresh 99-year lease from 2024. Penrith enters the resale cycle with an almost-pristine lease runway — approximately 99 years remaining as of 2026, a material advantage over neighbouring Stirling Residences (~90 years left, 99-from-2017) and the older D3 leasehold stock. For long-hold owner-occupiers and buyers who care about terminal value, lease freshness directly compounds into resale defensibility a decade or two out. Buyers can model the lease-decay differential explicitly via our lease decay calculator.
2. EWL connectivity to the CBD trifecta. Queenstown MRT (EW19) delivers the rare RCR combination of fast East-West Line access to Raffles Place, Tanjong Pagar, and Outram Park — the three primary CBD employment nodes. For owner-occupiers commuting daily into the financial district, this is a tangible quality-of-life advantage that thinner-rail OCR competitors cannot match. The walk to Queenstown MRT is short and largely sheltered, which matters in Singapore’s climate.
3. Greater Southern Waterfront upside. The GSW programme — spanning the redevelopment of Keppel, Tanjong Pagar terminals, and the southern coastline — remains one of the most consequential long-term urban-planning catalysts in Singapore. D3 is among the precincts best-positioned to absorb the value uplift as GSW phases through. A long-hold owner positions on a precinct narrative, not a unit narrative, and the GSW narrative remains intact and uncapitalised in current pricing on a multi-decade horizon.
4. Queenstown rejuvenation and SERS pipeline. Of D3’s sub-precincts, Queenstown has the longest runway for redevelopment. The HDB SERS programme continues to clear older blocks for fresh public-housing supply, the URA Master Plan signals mixed-use intensification along Margaret Drive and Commonwealth, and the Margaret Rise cluster will progressively densify with newer private stock. Penrith is positioned at the front of this curve. Estimate carrying costs with our mortgage calculator and model the buying envelope via the stamp duty calculator.
1. 462-unit absorption into a dense supply pipeline. Penrith’s 462 units must absorb into a Queenstown corridor that already includes Stirling Residences (1,259 units), Margaret Ville (309 units), Queens Peak (736 units), and forthcoming GLS-awarded sites along Margaret Drive. The aggregate D3 RCR resale supply is structurally thick, and Penrith owners will compete with other listings on every secondary-market sale. This compresses seller pricing power versus boutique developments with listing scarcity.
2. RCR premium under OCR competitive pressure. When the Margaret Rise sites were tendered, RCR pricing carried a clear step-up over OCR. That gap has compressed materially. New OCR launches at Lentor, Tengah, and the eastern corridor now print psf numbers that approach — or in some sub-segments match — mid-tier RCR resale. Penrith’s 2024 launch pricing reflects the historical RCR premium; resale buyers in 2027-2030 will be benchmarking against an OCR landscape that has narrowed the gap. Benchmark against alternatives with the comparison tool.
3. Queenstown supply pipeline overhang. Beyond Penrith’s own 462 units, the Margaret Drive corridor has an active GLS pipeline and ongoing en-bloc activity in the broader Commonwealth/Alexandra cluster. Successive new launches over the next 3-5 years will keep the precinct’s primary-market psf in the headlines — a dynamic that historically caps resale pricing power in the surrounding stock as buyers anchor on new-launch comparables. Stress-test yields with the ROI calculator.
4. Direct competition from Margaret Ville, Stirling Residences, and Promenade Peak. Margaret Ville (309 units, TOP 2022) sits literally adjacent on Margaret Drive and competes on the same precinct narrative with a similar lease vintage. Stirling Residences (1,259 units, TOP 2021) competes on scale and EWL walkability. Promenade Peak competes on the same RCR mid-tier resale buyer pool. Penrith’s 462-unit listings will be benchmarked against all three on every comparable transaction — a competitive dynamic baked into the local resale market structure.
5. Yield compression and rental-pool depth. With Stirling, Margaret Ville, and Queens Peak collectively supplying thousands of rental units in the immediate vicinity, the District 3 RCR rental pool is structurally deep. Gross yields have tracked the broader RCR compression, and buyers underwriting on rental coverage should pressure-test cash flow with the cash flow calculator against current District 3 data before committing.
Best fit: Owner-occupiers commuting daily to Raffles Place, Tanjong Pagar, or Outram Park who value EWL connectivity above all else — this is where Penrith’s structural advantage is sharpest. Also suited to long-hold buyers who prize lease freshness as a hedge against terminal value decay (the ~99-year remaining lease is materially better than the 80-90-year RCR comparables), and dual-income D3 buyers who want city-fringe lifestyle (IKEA Alexandra, Anchorpoint, Henderson Wave) without CCR pricing.
Marginal fit: Yield-focused investors should compare gross yields carefully against newer OCR alternatives before committing — the CBD-fringe rental premium is real but compressed by the dense local supply pool. Short-to-medium-term flippers betting on launch-to-resale appreciation face the 462-unit overhang plus the broader Queenstown supply pipeline, both of which structurally cap near-term capital gains. Use the refinancing calculator to model multi-year debt servicing under different rate scenarios, and the TDSR calculator to validate the borrowing envelope.
Poor fit: Buyers seeking boutique exclusivity (462 units is mid-scale, not boutique — expect typical common-area density), freehold-preference buyers (leasehold mechanics will weigh on multi-decade terminal value regardless of the fresh lease), and HDB upgraders without sufficient cash buffer for the RCR premium. For couples considering ownership restructuring to unlock a second purchase, the decoupling calculator can quantify trade-offs.
Verdict: Constructive bias for owner-occupiers and long-hold investors; selective on entry pricing. Penrith is a structurally sound RCR product with two defensible anchors — the fresh 99-year lease from 2024 and Queenstown MRT walkability on the East-West Line. The lease vintage in particular is a real, quantifiable advantage versus neighbouring Stirling Residences (~90 years left) and the older D3 leasehold stock; over a 10-15-year hold this differential compounds into a tangible terminal-value advantage. For owner-occupiers who will actually use the EWL access daily, the connectivity premium compounds across thousands of commute days.
The execution risk is concentrated in the 462-unit absorption and the broader Queenstown supply pipeline. Successive new launches along Margaret Drive over the next 3-5 years will keep primary-market psf in the headlines, a dynamic that historically caps resale pricing power in the surrounding stock. Underwrite conservatively, negotiate hard on the 5-10% range, and prioritise mid-to-high floor stacks with clear orientation to differentiate from the broader Margaret Drive resale flow. Cross-check pricing against the District 3 benchmarks and the price heatmap before committing.