The Hillside
Overview & Key Facts
The Hillside is a 340-unit freehold condominium at 341–347 Upper Bukit Timah Road in District 21, developed by Bukitville Investment Pte Ltd, a Hong Leong Holdings subsidiary. Completed in 2001, the development occupies a low-density hilltop site flanked by the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve corridor and the Rail Mall greenway — one of Singapore’s most coveted nature-belt residential addresses.
The Hillside comprises four residential blocks of ten storeys on elevated terrain, with 13 floor-plan types ranging from approximately 1,044 sqft to 3,208 sqft across 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-bedroom configurations. The large unit sizes, generous plot-to-unit ratio, and lushly landscaped hilltop setting distinguish the development from the denser, more compact condominiums of central Singapore. At an average transacted PSF of $1,503 and average transaction count of 27 recorded sales, The Hillside occupies the mid-premium tier of the D21 freehold market — well below the cost of newer launches on the same corridor, but with the irreplaceable advantage of a freehold title in Singapore’s most famous nature enclave.
Hong Leong Holdings has consistently delivered well-regarded residential developments across Singapore’s premium suburban belt, and The Hillside reflects the group’s characteristic approach: generous unit proportions, comprehensive recreational facilities, and a site selection that prioritises greenery and low-density character over proximity to commercial nodes. For buyers who weight nature access, school proximity, and the long-term scarcity of freehold land in the Bukit Timah corridor, The Hillside offers a proposition that newer leasehold alternatives on the same street cannot replicate.
The average monthly rent of $4,137 implies a gross yield of approximately 2.2% at the current $1,503 average PSF — modest by Singapore residential standards but consistent with the pricing of established freehold products in D21 where capital preservation and long-run land scarcity are the primary investment arguments. The development is now approximately 24 years old, which brings both the charm of a mature, settled landscape and the practical consideration that buyers should factor in renovation and maintenance requirements for units that have not been recently refurbished.
Location & Connectivity
The Hillside occupies one of the most distinctive residential addresses in Singapore’s western corridor: a hilltop site on Upper Bukit Timah Road, elevated approximately 56 metres above sea level, nestled between the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to the north-east and the Bukit Batok Nature Park greenway to the west. Upper Bukit Timah Road is the primary arterial through Singapore’s green heartland — a leafy, low-rise corridor where freehold land commands persistent scarcity premiums and where the land-use environment is protected from the kind of densification that has reshaped Singapore’s other suburban residential belts.
The nearest MRT stations on the Downtown Line (DTL) are Hillview MRT (DT3) at approximately 1.1 km, Beauty World MRT (DT5) at approximately 1.5 km, and Cashew MRT (DT2) at approximately 1.9 km. None of these stations are within comfortable walking distance from the hilltop site; realistic access requires a short drive or feeder bus ride. This is the most significant practical trade-off of the Hillside’s nature-belt location — the same topography and greenery that creates the site’s appeal also distances it from the DTL’s stations. That said, the Downtown Line provides direct access to Botanic Gardens (DT9), Rochor, Bugis, and the CBD corridor without transfer, making the overall connectivity picture workable for car-owning households.
The lifestyle catchment of the Upper Bukit Timah neighbourhood is distinctly nature-oriented and family-residential. Within 1.5 km: Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (Singapore’s primary rainforest reserve, with approximately 163 hectares of primary forest), Bukit Batok Nature Park, the Chestnut Nature Park, and the Rail Corridor greenway — Singapore’s 24-km former KTM railway heritage trail. Retail and daily convenience are anchored by The Rail Mall (a boutique strip mall with F&B, a supermarket, and specialty retail) and HillV2 at Hillview MRT, both within easy driving distance. Cold Storage at Beauty World and the broader Bukit Timah Shopping Centre retail cluster serve weekly grocery needs.
The school proximity profile is one of the strongest in Singapore’s western residential belt. Keming Primary School, Lianhua Primary School, and CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace are all within the 1–2 km primary school registration radius. For families targeting Singapore’s highly competitive primary school admission process, proximity to two or three quality government primary schools within the 1 km radius is a meaningful practical advantage and a structurally supportive demand driver for the address. Middleton International School at Upper Bukit Timah also provides an international option for expatriate families.
The overall neighbourhood character is firmly family-residential and green-amenity focused — distinctly different from the urban-professional character of Bugis, the aspirational lifestyle character of Orchard, or the dense HDB suburban environment of newer towns. For buyers who prioritise nature access, quiet hilltop living, and a family-oriented residential community, the D21 Bukit Timah corridor offers a lifestyle that is simply unavailable in Singapore’s central or eastern districts.
Schools & Education
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Bukit View Primary School | primary | ~1.2 km |
| Princess Elizabeth Primary School | primary | ~1.9 km |
Facilities
The Hillside’s facilities programme reflects the standards of a mid-2000s Hong Leong Holdings development: comprehensive for the era, and still more than adequate for residents whose primary lifestyle amenity is the surrounding Bukit Timah nature corridor rather than a curated resort-style deck. The development is not attempting to compete with the sky pools and sky gyms of premium new launches; it offers a well-maintained set of recreational facilities on a generously landscaped hilltop site.
The core facilities include a swimming pool, a wading pool for children, a gymnasium, a fitness station in the landscaped grounds, tennis courts, squash courts, a BBQ area, a sauna, a clubhouse function room, and a playground. The covered car park and 24-hour security are standard features. The overall facilities footprint benefits from the development’s low site coverage ratio: with 340 units spread across four ten-storey blocks, the site has significantly more open landscaped area per unit than a comparable development on a smaller, denser plot.
The development’s age (approximately 24 years) means that facilities and finishes should be inspected carefully during viewings. The quality of maintenance and refurbishment history varies by management committee tenure. Prospective buyers should check the state of the swimming pool, gymnasium equipment, and clubhouse to assess whether the MCST has invested in keeping common areas current, and factor refurbishment costs into their acquisition planning accordingly.
“The pool and gym are well maintained for a condo of this age. The grounds are beautiful — very lush and private. You can hear the birds in the morning. It does not feel like Singapore at all.”
— Resident review via PropertyGuru
Unit Sizes & Layout
The Hillside offers 13 distinct floor-plan types distributed across 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-bedroom configurations, ranging from approximately 1,044 sqft (2-bedroom) to approximately 3,208 sqft (5-bedroom penthouse or large premium unit). This range of unit sizes is notably generous by Singapore standards — particularly the 4- and 5-bedroom units, which occupy the upper floors of the four residential blocks and deliver both size and the elevated hilltop-view premium that defines the development’s most desirable units.
The 2-bedroom configurations at approximately 1,044–1,200 sqft are substantially larger than equivalent bedroom-count units in newer D21 and D10 developments, reflecting the construction-era norms of 2001 when unit efficiency ratios were not driven by the land cost pressures that have progressively reduced unit sizes since. The 3-bedroom units range from approximately 1,400 to 1,800 sqft — a space quantum that most Singapore families would find genuinely comfortable for daily living. The 4-bedroom units at approximately 2,000–2,500 sqft, and 5-bedroom configurations approaching 3,208 sqft, represent a space offering that is effectively unavailable in new-launch product on the same corridor at any comparable price point.
Unit finishes are original 2001-standard or represent progressive owner-led refurbishment depending on individual unit history. The development does not have a hotel-grade specification — wardrobe fittings, kitchen cabinetry, and bathroom fixtures are functional rather than luxury-branded. Buyers should price in a full renovation budget for recently unrefurbished units (typically $80,000–$150,000 for a comprehensive renovation of a 3- or 4-bedroom unit), while recognising that recently renovated units will already reflect this investment in their asking prices.
The upper floors of the four blocks capture the development’s most distinctive feature: panoramic views over the Bukit Timah forest canopy and the surrounding green belt. High-floor units on the north and east orientations deliver an uninterrupted forest canopy view that is among the most tranquil residential outlooks in Singapore. Lower-floor units face the landscaped grounds or adjacent residential streets — still green and private, but without the elevated forest panorama.
| Bedrooms | Transactions | Avg PSF | Avg Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 BR | 15 | $1,523 | $1,879,037 |
| 4 BR | 12 | $1,477 | $2,364,000 |
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 27 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $1,340,000 to $3,030,000, averaging $2,094,576 (~$1,733 psf).
Rents range from $2,050 to $10,500 per month across 270 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 2.6%.
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2025, the average PSF has appreciated by 30.7% (from $1,291 to $1,688 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
The most directly comparable freehold developments in the D21 Upper Bukit Timah corridor are Summerhill at Hume Avenue (freehold, 2003, City Developments, 172 units), Hume Park I & II (freehold, Hume Avenue), and the newer The Reserve Residences at Beauty World MRT (99-year leasehold, 2028 TOP, Far East Organization, 732 units). The comparison across these four developments illustrates the structural trade-off between tenure, age, size, and MRT connectivity in D21.
Summerhill and Hume Park are similarly aged freehold products on smaller Hume Avenue plots, offering comparable nature-belt character but with fewer units, smaller sites, and marginally better access to Hillview MRT. Their average PSF tracks broadly in line with The Hillside at approximately $1,400–$1,600 PSF — reflecting the fact that D21 freehold land in the Bukit Timah corridor is consistently priced on a scarcity-and-nature-premium basis that does not diverge dramatically across developments of similar vintage and quality.
The Reserve Residences at Beauty World represents the new-launch point of the D21 comparison matrix: a 99-year leasehold integrated development directly above Beauty World MRT (DT5), offering 1- to 5-bedroom configurations from approximately 484 sqft to 2,067 sqft with modern facilities and direct MRT access. Expected transacted PSFs for The Reserve Residences have been in the $2,500–$2,800 range — a substantial PSF premium to The Hillside that reflects both the MRT integration and the new-launch premium of a 2028 TOP development. The comparison is instructive: buyers choosing between The Hillside and The Reserve Residences are essentially choosing between freehold land, generous unit size, and nature-belt hilltop living versus leasehold tenure, compact modern units, and direct MRT connectivity — a genuine lifestyle and investment thesis divergence rather than a simple value comparison.
Within the broader D21–D10 corridor, The Cascadia (freehold, 2011, D10–D21 boundary, 536 units) and Florentine represent alternative freehold reference points. The Hillside’s $1,503 average PSF sits at a modest discount to newer freehold D21 product and a substantial discount to D10 freehold equivalents, reflecting the 24-year age of the development and the approximately 1.1–1.5 km MRT walking distance. For a buyer whose investment thesis is freehold land scarcity in Singapore’s most protected nature belt, the PSF discount to newer product is not a value trap — it is the entry point to an irreplaceable physical attribute that cannot be reproduced at any price within the same geographical envelope.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| THE HILLSIDE | Freehold | 2001 | 340 | $1,733 |
| THE RESERVE RESIDENCES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2021 | 2023 | 892 | $2,494 |
| NAVA GROVE | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2024 | 2024 | 552 | $2,489 |
| PINETREE HILL | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2022 | 2023 | 520 | $2,486 |
| KI RESIDENCES AT BROOKVALE | 999 yrs lease commencing from 1885 | 2021 | 660 | $1,955 |
| FORETT@BUKIT TIMAH | Freehold | 2021 | 633 | $2,130 |
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates THE HILLSIDE across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“We have lived here for six years and would not trade the quiet and the greenery for anything. In the morning you can hear birds from the nature reserve. The children cycle to the Rail Corridor on weekends. You simply cannot find this anywhere else in Singapore at this price.”
— Owner-resident via 99.co
“Nice condo environment — resort-like with a lot of greenery. The condo is well maintained and very quiet, as the blocks are well spaced out. The swimming pool is clean and the grounds are beautiful.”
— Resident review via PropertyGuru
“The unit sizes here are huge compared to new launches. We have a 4-bedroom at just over 2,000 sqft and it is very comfortable for a family of four with a helper. The neighbourhood is safe, schools are nearby, and the Rail Mall is our weekend coffee spot. The only complaint is the MRT is not walkable.”
— Owner comment via EdgeProp
“We rented here for two years as an expatriate family and found it excellent for a family-oriented nature lifestyle. The Bukit Timah trail is 10 minutes by car, the international school is close, and the unit was a genuine 4-bedroom with a separate helper’s room. Very different from the typical Singapore rental condo experience.”
— Former tenant via SRX
The resident feedback pattern at The Hillside consistently centres on four themes: the restorative quality of the natural environment, the genuine spaciousness of the unit sizes, the family-residential community character, and the practical limitation of non-walkable MRT access. The development attracts a settled, long-holding owner-occupier base — both Singaporean families prioritising school proximity and nature access, and expatriate tenants from nearby international schools — whose lifestyle priorities align well with the hilltop nature-belt setting.
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold title in the Bukit Timah nature corridor — permanent land scarcity premium, no lease decay, unrestricted CPF usage and bank financing for any buyer
- Hilltop elevation with panoramic Bukit Timah forest canopy views from upper floors — a genuinely rare physical attribute that cannot be replicated by any new development in the area
- Generous unit sizes: 13 floor plan types from ~1,044 sqft to ~3,208 sqft across 2–5 bedrooms — significantly larger than equivalent-budget new-launch units in D21
- Exceptional school catchment: Keming Primary, Lianhua Primary, and CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace all within 1–2 km primary school registration radius
- Immediate access to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Bukit Batok Nature Park, Chestnut Nature Park, and the Rail Corridor greenway — Singapore’s finest outdoor amenity network
- Established Hong Leong Holdings developer pedigree with consistent quality maintenance and management track record
- Low-density site: four blocks of ten storeys with generous landscaped grounds, BBQ areas, swimming pool, tennis and squash courts, gym, sauna, and clubhouse on a spacious hilltop plot
- Low-turnover, long-hold ownership community; stable, family-residential neighbourhood character distinct from denser suburban Singapore
- Natural cooling: elevated hilltop orientation captures prevailing breezes, reducing ambient temperatures relative to ground-level developments on the same road
- Non-walkable MRT access: Hillview MRT (DT3) at ~1.1 km, Beauty World MRT (DT5) at ~1.5 km — car ownership or private-hire usage effectively required for most residents
- 24-year-old development (TOP 2001): unit finishes and common facilities may require renovation; buyers should budget for refurbishment costs on older units
- Modest gross yield: ~2.2% based on $4,137 average monthly rent and $1,503 average PSF — not a yield investment; financing costs will exceed rental income for most leveraged buyers
- Low transaction volume (27 recorded sales): reflects long-hold culture but may limit price discovery and create exit liquidity challenges for short-to-medium horizon investors
- Limited retail and F&B within walking distance; daily convenience relies on car-dependent access to The Rail Mall, HillV2, and the Bukit Timah Shopping Centre cluster
- No integrated mixed-use amenity: the development offers a standalone residential product without the precinct integration of newer Hillview or Beauty World corridor developments
- Upper Bukit Timah Road carries moderate traffic noise on road-facing unit orientations; buyers should request forest-facing or interior-facing units for best acoustic environment
Verdict
The Hillside’s investment and lifestyle proposition rests on a thesis that is both simple and structurally sound: freehold land in Singapore’s Bukit Timah nature corridor is permanently scarce, and the supply of large-unit freehold condominiums at this address is not growing. No new freehold development of comparable scale can be built on the same hilltop ridge — the surrounding land use designations, nature reserve boundaries, and planning parameters preclude it. This structural supply constraint is the single most important long-term argument for the D21 Upper Bukit Timah freehold market, and The Hillside sits within it.
The financial metrics present a realistic picture for a 24-year-old mid-premium development. At $1,503 average PSF with a 2.2% gross yield, The Hillside is not a yield play and not a capital-gains momentum story in the same way that new-launch CCR products are marketed. The investment case is more conservative: stable freehold land value in a low-supply, high-demand school catchment zone, with rental demand supported by both the established Singaporean family demographic and the international school expatriate community. Capital appreciation in D21 freehold has historically tracked the long-run growth in Singapore land values rather than the cyclical volatility of the CCR new-launch market.
The Hillside is the right answer for families who prioritise nature-belt living, school proximity, and generously sized freehold units over MRT walkability and resort-style new-launch amenities — and whose investment horizon extends long enough to capture the compounding value of irreplaceable Bukit Timah corridor land.
The practical considerations for buyers are real and should be priced in honestly. The 1.1–1.5 km gap to the nearest DTL station means that car ownership or regular private-hire usage is effectively a household requirement for most residents. The 24-year building age brings renovation costs and MCST maintenance levy considerations. The 27-transaction count in the records reflects a low-turnover, long-hold ownership culture — which is a positive liquidity signal for long-hold buyers but may present entry and exit challenges for those with shorter investment horizons.
For owner-occupiers who are Singaporean families with children approaching primary school age, The Hillside represents one of the most compelling addresses in Singapore’s western residential belt: Keming Primary, Lianhua Primary, and CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace all within the 1–2 km registration radius, a genuinely quiet and green hilltop environment, unit sizes that accommodate multigenerational family living, and a freehold title that structurally outperforms any leasehold alternative on the same corridor over a 20–30 year family ownership horizon. For that buyer, the trade-offs of age and MRT distance are manageable; the advantages of school proximity, nature access, unit size, and freehold tenure are durable.