The Taipan
Overview & Key Facts
The Taipan stands on Jalan Hajijah in the residential mid-section of District 16 — a quiet street tucked between Bayshore Road and the Siglap landed belt, roughly equidistant from the East Coast corridor and the Bedok heartland. Developed by Novelty Properties Pte Ltd and completed in 2003, the project comprises just 26 freehold units arranged in a single low-rise block, giving it the intimate scale and permanent tenure that a growing number of east-side buyers actively seek.
With only 26 homes to its name, The Taipan sits firmly in boutique territory. The development is not trying to compete with the resort-scale mega-condos that dominate the Bayshore waterfront; instead, it offers the quietude and community feel of a small compound where most residents know their neighbours, maintenance remains manageable, and common areas are rarely crowded. For buyers who find the anonymity of 300-unit projects unappealing, this scale is a genuine draw.
The freehold tenure is the defining financial asset here. In a sub-market that is otherwise dominated by 99-year developments — Sceneca Residence, The Glades, ECO, The Bayshore — The Taipan is one of a small cohort of perpetual-ownership properties east of Marine Parade, and that distinction increasingly matters as leasehold peers tick through their lease decades. For long-term holders and multi-generational estate planning, the math is straightforwardly in The Taipan’s favour.
Location & Connectivity
The Taipan’s single most important locational change is the opening of Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) stations in the Bayshore corridor. Bayshore MRT (TE30) is approximately 600 metres from Jalan Hajijah — a brisk 7–8 minute walk along Bayshore Road, or under three minutes by bicycle. Before the TEL, this pocket of D16 was car-dependent territory; today, residents have direct access to Marina Bay, Orchard, and Woodlands without changing lines, transforming the location calculus entirely.
Siglap MRT (TE29) offers a second TEL option at roughly 990 metres, and the Bedok MRT interchange on the East-West Line lies about 1.4 km away for those who need EWL connectivity. In practice, most residents will orient towards Bayshore as their primary station, with the others serving as backups for cross-island journeys. For drivers, the East Coast Parkway (ECP) is accessible within minutes, and the CBD is typically a 15-to-20 minute drive against moderate off-peak traffic.
Jalan Hajijah itself is a low-traffic residential street that borders the Siglap landed housing enclave, which means immediate neighbours are predominantly landed houses — a significant acoustic and visual advantage over locations fronting expressways or collector roads. East Coast Park, Singapore’s most popular waterfront recreational strip, is reachable by bicycle in under 10 minutes via the Bayshore cycling path, offering beach, cycling tracks, and a long stretch of hawker stalls and casual dining along the seafront.
For daily errands, the Siglap Centre cluster and Bedok Mall are both within a 10-minute drive, and a handful of cafés and independent grocers have taken root along Siglap Road in recent years. The nearest FairPrice is at the Bedok North area, roughly 10–12 minutes by car. This is not a walkable grocery neighbourhood — a bicycle or car makes a meaningful quality-of-life difference for residents without food delivery subscriptions — but the East Coast Park hawker options more than compensate for casual dining.
Schools & Education
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Dunman High School | secondary | Within 1 km |
| Dunman High School (JC) | jc | Within 1 km |
| Victoria School | secondary | ~1.1 km |
| Victoria Junior College | jc | ~1.1 km |
| Global Indian International School (GIIS East Coast) | international | ~1.2 km |
| East Coast Primary School | primary | ~1.2 km |
| Opera Estate Primary School | primary | ~1.2 km |
| Bedok South Secondary School | secondary | ~1.4 km |
Facilities
At 26 units on a compact freehold plot, The Taipan offers a pared-back but adequate facilities package. Residents can expect a swimming pool, a small gym, and shared BBQ or garden space — the standard offering for boutique developments of this vintage and scale. There is no tennis court, no function hall, no multiple pools, and no resort-level landscaping: that is the trade-off inherent in choosing a 26-unit project over a 200-unit complex. The upside is that the pool is almost never crowded, gym wait times are non-existent, and compound maintenance costs per unit remain modest.
“What I love most is the peace and quiet. You rarely see more than three or four other residents at the pool at any time. It genuinely feels like your own private compound, not a shared development.”
— Resident review via PropertyGuru
Buyers attracted to The Taipan for its freehold boutique character typically understand — and actively prefer — this minimal-facilities equation. Common area bookings are rarely required; the pool is a personal amenity rather than a shared resource with hundreds of competing residents. For owner-occupiers who use East Coast Park as their primary recreational outlet and treat the development itself as a quiet retreat, the facilities package is entirely fit for purpose. Families seeking badminton courts, indoor gyms, yoga studios, or sky gardens should look to the larger leasehold developments in the corridor instead.
Unit Sizes & Layout
Transaction data for The Taipan is sparse — just five recorded resale caveats — which reflects both the small unit count and the hold-to-perpetuity tendency that freehold boutique ownership encourages. The unit mix skews toward mid-sized formats typical of early 2000s boutique developments: units are likely in the 1,100–1,600 sqft range for two- and three-bedroom configurations, meaningfully larger than the shoebox typologies that defined the following decade. Interior heights and layouts in 2003-vintage projects tend to be more generous than post-2010 equivalents, though buyers should expect dated bathrooms and kitchens that will benefit from a renovation budget.
Stack orientation on Jalan Hajijah is favourable: the street is narrow and low-traffic, and the immediate surroundings are landed housing to the west and mid-rise residential to the east, meaning upper-floor units enjoy relatively open outlooks without the kind of cross-corridor claustrophobia common in denser developments. Units on higher floors with easterly or northerly aspects may benefit from glimpses toward the Bedok Reservoir corridor; those on lower floors gain the most from the quiet garden character of Jalan Hajijah itself.
| Bedrooms | Transactions | Avg PSF | Avg Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 BR | 4 | $1,288 | $1,458,750 |
| 4 BR | 1 | $1,098 | $1,868,000 |
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 5 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $1,200,000 to $1,868,000, averaging $1,540,600.
Rents range from $2,100 to $4,800 per month across 31 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 2.7%.
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2025, the average PSF has appreciated by 25.1% (from $1,177 to $1,473 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
The most direct comparison is between The Taipan and the newer leasehold launches in D16. Sceneca Residence (268 units, 99-year lease from 2021, ~S$2,084 psf) is a better-appointed, MRT-integrated project at Tanah Merah — but buyers are paying for a new-build premium on a depreciating title. The Glades (726 units, 99-year lease from 2013, ~S$1,612 psf) offers resort facilities and a larger community, but the lease has consumed over 13 years and the large unit count creates the crowd dynamic that boutique buyers specifically want to avoid.
For a buyer who values freehold tenure and is willing to sacrifice facilities breadth, The Taipan occupies a distinct niche that none of its immediate D16 competitors can replicate: it is the only boutique freehold option in this sub-market with TEL MRT access within 600 metres. That combination is genuinely uncommon east of Marine Parade and is unlikely to get cheaper as the TEL corridor matures. Buyers comparing on raw psf alone will invariably prefer the newer leasehold launches; buyers thinking in decades will find the freehold thesis compelling.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| THE TAIPAN | Freehold | 2003 | 26 | — |
| PINERY RESIDENCES | 99 years leasehold | — | — | $2,550 |
| SCENECA RESIDENCE | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2021 | 2023 | 268 | $2,084 |
| THE BAYSHORE | 99-year leasehold | 1996 | 1,038 | $1,229 |
| THE GLADES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2013 | 2017 | 726 | $1,612 |
| ECO | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2012 | 2017 | 714 | $1,444 |
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates THE TAIPAN across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“Very peaceful neighbourhood. Jalan Hajijah is a small road — minimal traffic noise and the landed houses nearby mean you don’t get construction or commercial activity on your doorstep. Good for families who value quiet over convenience.”
— Resident review via EdgeProp
“Freehold is the main draw. I looked at several leasehold condos in the east but when you run the numbers over 30 years, holding a freehold title even at a slightly higher entry psf makes much more sense. Bayshore MRT opening was the trigger for me to finally pull the trigger.”
— Owner interview via PropertyGuru, 2024
“Facilities are basic — pool and gym, that’s it. If you need tennis courts and a clubhouse, this isn’t the place. But I cycle to East Coast Park three times a week, so I honestly don’t feel the lack. The low-maintenance fee is a nice bonus.”
— Long-term resident via 99.co community
The consistent thread across resident feedback is a deliberate trade-off: owners at The Taipan have consciously chosen freehold permanence and boutique quietude over the amenity richness of larger projects, and most report satisfaction with that choice. The opening of Bayshore MRT is cited repeatedly as a positive development that has improved day-to-day convenience without changing the residential character of Jalan Hajijah itself.
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold tenure — no lease decay, full perpetual ownership
- Bayshore MRT (TEL) within ~600 m — direct access to Marina Bay & Orchard
- Boutique 26-unit scale — near-private feel, minimal facility competition
- Quiet Jalan Hajijah address bordered by landed housing
- Dunman High School ~550 m — within 1 km for primary balloting
- East Coast Park reachable by bicycle in under 10 minutes
- Low maintenance fees relative to resort-scale developments
- Freehold land in a corridor dominated by 99-year leasehold peers
- Victoria School & Victoria Junior College within ~1 km
- TEL connectivity re-rates location versus pre-2024 car-dependent profile
- Minimal facilities — basic pool and gym only, no tennis or clubhouse
- Very low transaction volume (5 caveats) — limited price discovery for resale
- Gross yield ~2.69% — modest for pure rental-yield investors
- Daily errands require car or bicycle — walkability score only 53/100
- TOP 2003 — units will require renovation budget (bathrooms, kitchen)
- ShiokNest score 33/100 reflects limited data and modest investment profile
- No dedicated children's play area or family-specific amenities
- Sparse D16 boutique resale market — exit liquidity is thinner than large projects
Verdict
The Taipan is not a development you buy for its facilities, its branding, or its prestige address. You buy it because it is freehold, boutique, and in a corridor that just got a direct MRT connection to the CBD. That three-way combination — rare in the east — is the entire investment thesis. The TEL’s opening has structurally improved the accessibility profile of Jalan Hajijah; the freehold tenure ensures the land value does not decay with time; and the 26-unit scale guarantees that the compound will never feel overcrowded regardless of what gets built next door.
The trade-offs are honest and should be understood clearly. Facilities are minimal; a family expecting a lap pool, gym, tennis courts, and function rooms will be disappointed. The gross yield of approximately 2.7% is modest — meaningful for pure rental investors only if they believe capital appreciation will compound over time (a reasonable bet for freehold east-side land). The walkability score of 53/100 reflects a neighbourhood that still requires a bicycle or car for daily errands beyond food delivery.
Against the leasehold competition in D16, the positioning is straightforward: The Taipan’s PSF premium to leasehold projects like The Bayshore (S$1,229 psf) reflects the tenure differential, but the gap to newer launches like Sceneca Residence (S$2,084 psf) and Pinery Residences (S$2,550 psf) reveals just how much the market values new-build leasehold over established freehold when buyers are comparison-shopping on psf alone. Long-term holders with an horizon of 15+ years will likely find the freehold advantage compounds in their favour; short-term investors trading on momentum should look elsewhere.