Steven's Court
Overview & Key Facts
Steven’s Court is a six-unit freehold boutique apartment block at 88 Stevens Road in prime District 10 — one of the smallest and most discreet residential addresses in Singapore’s most prestigious corridor. Completed in 1989 on a freehold land parcel of approximately 2,015 square metres, the development offers just six expansive units across three storeys, each measuring approximately 2,863 square feet. This is not a condominium in any conventional sense: it is a private residential building where the defining attributes are land tenure, address prestige, and unit scale — not facilities, density, or developer branding.
The property data reflects the extreme illiquidity of a six-unit freehold boutique. The most recent recorded transaction placed a 2,863 sqft unit at approximately S$4 million in October 2023, translating to roughly S$1,397 psf — a figure that sits at a meaningful discount to the Stevens Road and Stevens Drive corridor’s more active comparables: Parc Stevens has traded at S$2,438–2,812 psf in recent years, while Stevens Loft (28 units, 2003) records around S$1,629–2,736 psf. The discount at Steven’s Court is partly a function of its 1989 vintage, partly the absence of condo facilities, and partly the thin resale market that makes price discovery unreliable. Buyers cannot assume the last recorded transaction price is a fair guide to today’s market.
The buyer profile for a six-unit freehold block in this precise location is narrow and specific: a high-net-worth household seeking genuine space (nearly 3,000 sqft is rare anywhere in Singapore, and rarer still at this address), freehold tenure on Stevens Road, proximity to the Tanglin and American Clubs, and walking distance to Stevens MRT interchange (Downtown and Thomson-East Coast Lines). For that profile, Steven’s Court is one of very few options that has not been demolished, en-bloc-ed, or redeveloped in the forty years since Singapore’s prime district condominium boom began.
Location & Connectivity
Stevens Road is one of Singapore’s canonical prime residential addresses — a tree-lined corridor linking Scotts Road to Bukit Timah Road through the heart of District 10’s established landed and low-density residential belt. At number 88, Steven’s Court sits in a section of the road that benefits from both the immediate greenery of the Botanic Gardens corridor and the proximity to Orchard Road’s commercial spine, without being directly exposed to either. The result is a quiet, leafy residential enclave that is simultaneously within 15 minutes on foot of the most amenity-dense kilometre in Singapore.
Rail connectivity at this address is genuinely exceptional by any measure. Stevens MRT station (DT10/TE11) — a dual-line interchange serving both the Downtown Line and the Thomson-East Coast Line — is approximately 300–400 metres from the building, making it one of the most MRT-proximate addresses on Stevens Road. The station’s dual-line configuration is strategically important: Downtown Line runs directly to Botanic Gardens (one stop), Buona Vista, one-seat to the CBD at City Hall and Bayfront; Thomson-East Coast Line connects north to Orchard (one stop), Newton interchange, Novena, and the full northern corridor, and south to Marina Bay, Shenton Way, and the East Coast. Few addresses outside the Orchard Road core combine this level of rail reach with the residential quietness of Stevens Road.
The amenity layer on Stevens Road and its immediate surrounds is calibrated for a specific demographic: the Tanglin Club is approximately 900 metres away, the American Club is within 1.2 km, and the Singapore Botanic Gardens UNESCO World Heritage Site is a short walk south-west. Orchard Road’s retail spine is under 1 km north: Tanglin Mall (Cold Storage, food hall, F&B, health services) is the closest large-format retail at approximately 1 km, followed by Forum The Shopping Mall, Wheelock Place, and Ion Orchard further along. For school-aged children, Singapore Chinese Girls’ Primary School and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School are the closest mainstream options; the International School cluster along Stevens and Bukit Timah Roads (ISS, Chinese International School, Overseas Family School) serves the expatriate community well.
Schools & Education
1 primary school within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Nanyang Girls' High School | secondary | Within 1 km |
| Nanyang Primary School | primary | Within 1 km |
| ISS International School (Preston) | international | ~1.1 km |
| ISS International School (Paterson) | international | ~1.1 km |
| Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) | primary | ~1.2 km |
| Methodist Girls' School (Primary) | primary | ~1.2 km |
| Singapore Chinese Girls' School (Primary) | primary | ~1.2 km |
| Methodist Girls' School | secondary | ~1.3 km |
Facilities
A six-unit, three-storey apartment block completed in 1989 does not operate within the economics of modern condominium facilities provision. Steven’s Court almost certainly offers covered car parking and basic common-area maintenance — intercom, lobby access, external landscaping — but buyers should not expect a swimming pool, gymnasium, function room, concierge, or guard post. The monthly maintenance contributions in a six-unit block are correspondingly minimal: the absence of facility infrastructure means lower management corporation (MCST) levies, typically in the range of S$150–300 per month, compared to S$500–900 at large-complex condominiums with full resort amenities.
“When you’re looking at a six-unit freehold block on Stevens Road, the facilities are the address itself — the Tanglin Club, the Botanic Gardens, the Orchard Road run, Stevens MRT at four minutes’ walk. The building is private, quiet, and spacious in a way that no modern launch can match at any price. That’s the proposition.”
— D10 property specialist perspective on low-density freehold boutiques, via Stacked Homes market commentary
For households that belong to the Tanglin or American Club, access to a full-facility social club — pool, gym, sports courts, F&B, event spaces — is already solved outside the building. The practical calculus for this buyer profile is therefore different from the suburban condo buyer who relies on in-compound amenities as a primary recreation layer. Buyers who do not hold club memberships and have school-age children requiring daily swimming or outdoor activity access will find the facility gap more material, and should weigh developments like Parc Stevens (48 units, completed 2000, confirmed condo facilities on Stevens Drive) or The Element @ Stevens as alternatives that maintain the neighbourhood premise while providing amenity infrastructure.
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 1 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $4,000,000 to $4,000,000, averaging $4,000,000.
Neighbourhood Comparison
The most direct comparable is Parc Stevens at 21 Stevens Drive — a 48-unit freehold condominium completed in 2000 that sits approximately 500 metres south-west, also within a short walk of Stevens MRT. Parc Stevens offers full condominium facilities and a substantially more active resale market (~S$2,438–2,812 psf in recent years), but unit sizes are considerably smaller (ranging from approximately 990 to 2,400 sqft) and the quantum for larger units reaches well above S$5 million at current pricing. For a buyer whose primary need is space at the minimum possible quantum per square foot of freehold D10 land, Steven’s Court’s ~S$1,397 psf remains the more capital-efficient entry — provided the buyer can fund the renovation and accept a no-facilities building.
Stevens Loft (28 units, freehold, 2003, Stevens Drive) offers a middle-ground position: smaller units (averaging ~1,500–1,800 sqft), modern condominium facilities, and a rental yield of approximately 3.2% — meaningfully higher than what can typically be achieved at Steven’s Court given the rental thinness data. For investors prioritising yield over scale, Stevens Loft is the stronger income vehicle in the same corridor. Loft @ Stevens (~S$2,200–2,500 psf, similar vintage and scale to Stevens Loft) presents a comparable yield and facility profile. Neither, however, replicates the 2,863 sqft per-unit scale that defines Steven’s Court’s unique value proposition.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| STEVEN'S COURT | Freehold | — | 6 | — |
| SKYE AT HOLLAND | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2024 | 2025 | 666 | $2,945 |
| LEEDON GREEN | Freehold | 2021 | 638 | $2,785 |
| D'LEEDON | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2010 | 2014 | 1,703 | $1,856 |
| HYLL ON HOLLAND | Freehold | 2021 | 319 | $2,648 |
| FOURTH AVENUE RESIDENCES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2018 | 2021 | 476 | $2,465 |
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates STEVEN'S COURT across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“We’ve lived in the Stevens Road corridor for eleven years across two properties. The dual MRT interchange is genuinely transformative — Downtown Line to the CBD for work, TEL north to Orchard or south to Marina Bay on weekends. We haven’t needed a car for three years. For a prime district freehold address, that level of connectivity was not available before 2017.”
— Long-term Stevens Road resident, via Condo Singapore community forums
“The space is the reason. We looked at everything on the market in D10 up to S$5 million — nothing else gave us more than 1,800 sqft of genuine living space. The boutique freehold blocks from the late 1980s on Stevens Road and Ardmore are really the last generation of apartments built to proper residential scale. The renovation was significant but the result is something you can’t buy anywhere in Singapore at this price.”
— Owner-occupier perspective on D10 vintage freehold boutique value, via PropertyGuru community discussion
“The club membership solves the facilities gap entirely. Tanglin Club pool, gym, tennis, restaurants — all within walking distance. You stop thinking about it as a condo without a pool and start thinking about it as a very large private apartment with a club a ten-minute walk away. The framing matters.”
— Tanglin Club member and Stevens Road owner-occupier, via EdgeProp commentary thread
Community discussion around the Stevens Road boutique freehold cohort consistently identifies two themes: the dual-line MRT interchange as a decisive post-2017 upgrade to the corridor’s connectivity value proposition, and the unit-scale advantage of 1980s-era low-density blocks as something that cannot be replicated in any new development. The renovation requirement is universally acknowledged as a significant cost item, but owner-occupiers who have completed refurbishments describe the outcome as a genuinely rare residential product in Singapore’s increasingly compressed prime-district market.
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold tenure on one of Singapore's most prestigious residential addresses — 88 Stevens Road, D10
- Stevens MRT interchange (DT10/TE11) approximately 300–400m away — dual Downtown and Thomson-East Coast Line access
- Exceptional unit scale: ~2,863 sqft per unit — genuinely impossible to replicate in any new D10 launch
- Six-unit block means ultra-low density, total privacy, and no resort-condo noise or crowds
- Meaningful PSF discount vs active D10 peers: ~S$1,397 psf vs S$2,400–2,800 psf at Parc Stevens, Stevens Loft
- Walking distance to Tanglin Club, American Club — members can treat club facilities as their amenity layer
- Singapore Botanic Gardens UNESCO World Heritage Site approximately 800m–1km away
- Orchard Road retail spine (Tanglin Mall, Forum, Ion) under 1km north
- Proximity to key D10 schools: Singapore Chinese Girls' Primary School, SCGS, Chinese International School
- Minimal MCST fees — six-unit block with no pool/gym to maintain, typically S$150–300/month
- Extremely low residential density — Stevens Road's established tree-lined character preserved
- Large freehold land parcel (~2,015 sqm) for six units — strong en-bloc potential when market cycles allow
- No condo facilities — no swimming pool, gymnasium, clubhouse, guard post, or formal recreational grounds
- Only one recent resale caveat on record (~S$1,397 psf, Oct 2023) — near-zero price discovery data
- Heavy renovation required: 1989 vintage interiors will need S$150,000–250,000+ to reach contemporary standard at this scale
- Six-unit block means extremely infrequent turnover — buyers may wait years for a unit to come to market
- Rental yield structurally compressed: large-format boutique units in D10 typically achieve 1.5–2.5% gross
- High absolute quantum (~S$4M per unit before renovation) — exit liquidity is limited to a small buyer universe
- No developer warranty or defects-liability period — 35-year-old building bought as-seen
- Age-related building infrastructure (plumbing, electrical, lifts) may require capital expenditure beyond cosmetic renovation
- Limited unit mix — all six units are similar in size; no flexibility to choose smaller/larger configuration
Verdict
Steven’s Court is an ultra-niche freehold product at one of Singapore’s most prized residential addresses, and its investment thesis rests on three structural pillars that are genuinely difficult to replicate. First, the freehold land title on Stevens Road — an address where most competing supply is either 99-year leasehold, substantially newer (and priced accordingly at S$2,400+ psf), or already demolished and redeveloped. Second, the unit scale: 2,863 sqft is not available in any new launch in this corridor at any price, and is diminishingly rare even in the resale market. Third, the MRT proximity: Stevens MRT interchange at approximately 300–400 metres gives this building rail connectivity that rival boutiques on deeper residential roads cannot match. These three attributes — tenure, scale, and connectivity — are not going to change, and their scarcity premium can only increase as the surrounding market continues to compress unit sizes.
The case against is equally clear. No facilities, a 1989 vintage requiring significant renovation investment, a market so thin (six units) that price discovery is essentially non-existent, and a psf that — while low relative to active comparables — still implies a total quantum of approximately S$4 million per unit before renovation costs. At that quantum, buyers have access to a wide range of facility-rich alternatives: Parc Stevens (48 units, freehold, Stevens Drive, ~S$2,800 psf today), Stevens Loft (28 units, freehold, Stevens Drive, ~S$2,200 psf for smaller units), and Loft @ Stevens (~S$2,400 psf). All three offer condo-standard facilities and more active resale markets while maintaining the Stevens corridor address. The premium a buyer pays at these developments versus Steven’s Court per-unit quantum is, in effect, the cost of facilities and liquidity.
The composite ShiokNest score reflects the genuine balance: an outstanding neighbourhood rating (9.5/10) and near-perfect lease score (9.5/10) anchor the aggregate, while exceptional MRT access (9.0/10) for a prime residential address of this type is a genuine differentiator. Value (7.5/10) reflects real discount to active D10 peers but is tempered by renovation requirement and quantum. Unit layout (8.5/10) recognises the extraordinary space in a context where space is the defining constraint in all competing supply. The facilities score (4.0/10) is structural and non-negotiable for this building typology. The ideal buyer has already made the conscious trade-off: they are buying land, space, tenure, and address — not a resort.