Residences @ Novena
Overview & Key Facts
Residences @ Novena is a boutique 11-unit condominium at 10 Jalan Novena in District 11, developed by Group-Land Development Pte Ltd and completed in 2004 on a 99-year lease commencing from 2000. Tucked into the quiet residential pocket behind Novena MRT on the North-South Line, the development occupies a low-rise, exclusive position that blends the privacy of a small-scale building with the prestige and connectivity of one of Singapore’s most coveted CCR sub-markets.
Eleven units is a deliberate statement of scale. Where most CCR condo developments compete on facilities breadth or architectural spectacle, Residences @ Novena competes on exclusivity and density of ownership. Residents share the development with at most ten other households. The car park, lobby, pool, and common areas remain uncrowded by definition — something that most large-scale condominiums at any price point cannot replicate. The developer’s bet was that a specific segment of the D11 buyer pool values that quiet, landed-adjacent experience over the resort-facility provision that characterises the dominant CCR product.
Transaction volume is thin — only three recorded resale caveats, with an average of S$4,026,667 and a median of S$4,000,000, and PSF on a rising trend from S$1,548 to S$1,667 to S$1,845 across the last three data points. That trajectory is encouraging for holders, though the extremely low transaction count means any individual deal moves the average materially. The rental dataset is empty: zero recorded rental transactions. For a block this size in the Novena medical hub, that almost certainly reflects long-term owner-occupier behaviour rather than a structural rental vacancy problem — but it is a genuine data limitation that yield-seeking investors must factor in.
Location & Connectivity
10 Jalan Novena places residents at the doorstep of Novena MRT (North-South Line) at approximately 290 metres — a genuine two-to-three minute level walk that remains comfortable even on a rainy Singapore morning. The North-South Line from Novena provides a one-seat commute south to Orchard (2 stops), City Hall (4 stops), and Raffles Place (5 stops), covering the majority of CBD employment and retail destinations without a transfer. Newton MRT (NS/DT interchange) sits at 1.15 km, adding the Downtown Line for direct access east to Bugis, Promenade, and the Marina Bay financial district. Mount Pleasant MRT (Thomson-East Coast Line) at 0.98 km will, when fully operational south to Founders’ Memorial and Marina Bay, extend the transit catchment to a practical three-line envelope. For a 99-year leasehold asset, this transit redundancy is a meaningful underwriting point: rental demand and re-sale appeal are anchored to transit infrastructure with a lifespan that well exceeds the remaining lease.
The Novena sub-market is anchored by its medical cluster. Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Thomson Medical Centre, and the surrounding specialist clinics form one of the densest medical corridors in Southeast Asia. This concentration reliably generates rental demand from healthcare professionals, medical tourists on extended stays, and the support staff employed across these institutions — a structural demand driver that sits beneath any given economic cycle. Residents at Jalan Novena benefit from this neighbour effect in terms of walkable healthcare access, with the Novena medical belt reachable in under ten minutes on foot.
For everyday living, Velocity@Novena Square and United Square are within a ten-minute walk, offering FairPrice supermarket, food courts, fitness facilities, and a range of F&B. The Newton Food Centre and Newton Circus are reachable in under fifteen minutes, and the Orchard Road shopping belt is approximately 2 km by foot or a single MRT stop from Novena. The neighbourhood character is residential and measured — not the retail intensity of Orchard, but a quieter street-level environment typical of the mid-D11 residential core.
The school catchment is a material asset for families prioritising Phase 2C proximity. St. Joseph’s Institution (Primary) sits at 0.74 km, CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace at 0.80 km, New Town Primary at 0.91 km, Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (Primary) at 1.05 km, St. Margaret’s Primary at 1.09 km, and Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) at 1.17 km. This cluster density — six well-regarded MOE primary schools within 1.2 km — places Jalan Novena in the top tier of D11 school-catchment addresses, and the supply of such addresses is structurally limited by the fixed school locations.
Schools & Education
2 primary schools within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| St. Joseph's Institution | secondary | Within 1 km |
| CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace | primary | Within 1 km |
| New Town Primary School | primary | Within 1 km |
| Singapore Chinese Girls' School (Primary) | primary | ~1.1 km |
| St. Margaret's Primary School | primary | ~1.1 km |
| St. Margaret's Secondary School | secondary | ~1.1 km |
| Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) | primary | ~1.2 km |
| Beatty Secondary School | secondary | ~1.4 km |
Facilities
At eleven units, Residences @ Novena cannot sustain the facilities arms race that defines the marketing language of larger CCR launches, nor does it try to. The development provides a communal swimming pool, gymnasium, BBQ area, 24-hour security with CCTV coverage, and covered car parking. This is an appropriate facility set for a boutique development of this scale: practical, usable, and never oversubscribed. Where a 200-unit condo might see weekend queues at the pool deck and monthly scrambles for BBQ pit bookings, residents at Residences @ Novena use common facilities on their own schedule, with the unspoken benefit of knowing their co-users personally.
Maintenance fees reflect the boutique economics. Smaller blocks in this segment typically levy S$300–500 per month for a 3- or 4-bedroom unit, materially lower than the S$700–1,200+ collected by full-facility CCR developments of comparable vintage. For owner-occupiers, this represents a genuine running-cost advantage that partially offsets the per-sqft premium of D11 CCR pricing. The trade-off is explicit: buyers who want a lap pool, tennis court, concierge, and function room calendar are looking at the wrong building. Buyers who value privacy, low maintenance overhead, and an uncrowded compound in a CCR address will find the facilities appropriately calibrated to the product proposition.
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 3 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $3,830,000 to $4,250,000, averaging $4,026,667 (~$1,845 psf).
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2025, the average PSF has appreciated by 19.2% (from $1,548 to $1,845 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
Within the 99-year leasehold segment of D11, Residences @ Novena’s closest peers are Soleil @ Sinaran (Sinaran Drive, 99yr/2004, ~S$1,970 psf) and Amaryllis Ville (Essex Road, 99yr/2004, ~S$1,903 psf). Both are approximately 3–6% more expensive on a psf basis, offer more units (Soleil: 448 units; Amaryllis Ville: 314 units) and commensurately broader facility sets, and trade with higher transaction liquidity. The liquidity premium is real: an investor selling into a 448-unit pool has more comparable sales data and a larger buyer pool than one selling in an 11-unit block. Buyers who prioritise price certainty on exit should model the liquidity discount explicitly. That said, Residences @ Novena’s rising PSF trajectory closing toward the Amaryllis Ville level suggests the market is not applying a dramatic boutique-illiquidity discount at current pricing.
Against the freehold segment, the comparison is stark. Pullman Residences Newton (freehold, 340 units, 2022 TOP) and Watten House (freehold, 180 units, 2027 TOP) are trading in the S$3,074–3,236 psf range — a 65–75% premium to Residences @ Novena. For a buyer with the capital to access either product, the freehold premium buys perpetual tenure, full facilities, larger developer reputations, and significantly better CPF flexibility across a multi-generational ownership horizon. Residences @ Novena competes in a different price tier rather than a different location tier: the MRT proximity and school catchment are comparable, but the leasehold constraint and boutique-illiquidity discount structurally separate the two markets.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RESIDENCES @ NOVENA | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2000 | — | — | $1,845 |
| 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 RESIDENCES @ NOVENA across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“We moved here from a larger condo in Novena because we wanted fewer neighbours and an easy walk to the MRT. The pool is never crowded, the lobby is quiet, and getting to work at the hospital is a ten-minute door-to-door trip. For us, the boutique scale is the whole point — we pay CCR prices for the address and the privacy, not for a clubhouse.”
— Healthcare professional, owner-occupier at Residences @ Novena, via PropertyGuru community feedback
“The kids are zoned for SJI and the school run is simple — straight down Jalan Novena and across. The lease is our main concern long-term, and we checked with CPF before buying because we knew we were close to the 75-year threshold. For our timeline and how we financed it, the maths worked out. But I’d tell any family to do that calculation carefully before committing.”
— Family owner-occupier, Residences @ Novena, via Singapore Expats community
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Novena MRT (NSL) at ~290m — genuine doorstep access, 3-min walk
- D11 CCR Novena medical hub — one of Singapore's most resilient sub-markets
- Six top-tier MOE primaries within 1.2 km (SJI, CHIJ OLQP, SCGS, ACS, St Margaret's, New Town)
- 11-unit boutique scale — uncrowded common areas and personalised compound feel
- Rising PSF trend across all recorded transactions (S$1,548 → S$1,667 → S$1,845)
- Competitive pricing vs 99-year leasehold peers Soleil @ Sinaran and Amaryllis Ville
- Large-format 3&4BR units (~2,000–3,500 sqft) suited to family owner-occupiers
- Newton NSL/DTL interchange at 1.15 km adds dual-line redundancy
- Lower maintenance fees than full-facility CCR developments (boutique economics)
- Walkable to Novena medical cluster — strong structural rental demand anchor
- 99-year lease from 2000 — ~73 years remaining, below 75-year CPF usage threshold
- Only 3 resale transactions on record — very thin price discovery and exit liquidity
- Zero rental caveats — yield modelling relies entirely on market inference, not data
- Investment score 33/100 and En-Bloc score 32/100 — unfavourable for investors
- Boutique facilities — no lap pool, tennis court, or clubhouse typical of full CCR product
- CPF buyer pool narrowing annually as lease shortens past 73-year mark
- Developer (Group-Land) is unknown — limited brand premium or reputation asset
- Re-sale pool constrained by CPF eligibility limits for future buyers
- ShiokNest composite 49/100 — lease and investment metrics cap overall score
Verdict
Residences @ Novena is a highly specific product for a highly specific buyer. The eleven-unit footprint, 73-year remaining lease, and near-doorstep Novena MRT access combine to produce an address that is genuinely difficult to replicate in the CCR, but one that carries a lease clock ticking toward the CPF boundary at a rate that matters for certain buyer profiles. Own-stay buyers — particularly medical and healthcare professionals employed in the Novena cluster, families targeting the SJI or SCGS primary catchment, and high-net-worth owner-occupiers who value boutique scale over facilities breadth — will find the product proposition coherent and the S$1,845 psf entry point competitive relative to the immediate leasehold peer set.
The ShiokNest composite score of 49/100 reflects the lease constraint and thin investment metrics rather than a judgment about the location quality. The neighbourhood rating (D11 CCR Novena medical hub, doorstep MRT, elite school cluster) sits at the upper end of the scorecard; the lease and investment scores drag the composite down. For a buyer who intends to hold for ten years on an own-stay basis and is not dependent on CPF housing grants, the composite score understates the experiential value of the address — and that is a common feature of any scoring methodology applied to boutique CCR leasehold assets.
Investors considering Residences @ Novena for rental yield face the twin challenges of zero historical rental caveats and a narrowing CPF buyer pool for eventual re-sale. Neither challenge is insurmountable, but both require more conservative modelling than would apply to a FH or 99-year-with-75-years-remaining comparable. The rising PSF trend (S$1,548 → S$1,667 → S$1,845) across the three recorded transactions is encouraging evidence that the market continues to absorb the product at improving levels, but three data points across an 11-unit block are insufficient to extrapolate a durable trend with statistical confidence.