The Verv @ Rv
Overview & Key Facts
The Verv @ RV is a freehold boutique condominium at 348 River Valley Road, developed by Heritage @ River Valley Pte Ltd and designed by the acclaimed architectural practice ONG & ONG Pte Ltd. Completed in 2011, the development rises 15 storeys over a compact footprint in the heart of District 9, comprising just 26 private residences — one of the smallest freehold CCR condominium counts in the River Valley corridor. That scale is both the building’s defining quality and its most important buyer filter.
ONG & ONG’s signature on this project is a sculptural concrete-and-glass composition that prioritises vertical articulation over the horizontal resort spread typical of larger District 9 launches. A second-storey amenity podium elevates the 20-metre lap pool above street level, giving upper-floor units a long sightline across the Great World precinct and the Singapore River bend to the south. Facilities are deliberately curated rather than comprehensive: a pool with spa corner, a gym, BBQ provision, and car parking — the right set for an owner-investor or professional tenant who does not want to subsidise a clubhouse through monthly maintenance fees.
The buyer profile here has consistently skewed toward two cohorts. The first is the CCR yield investor seeking freehold tenure, sub-$3,000 psf entry, and provably strong rental demand in a liquid letting market — the 61 rental transactions against just 26 units represents an extraordinary 2.3x turnover ratio, the clearest possible signal of sustained corporate and expatriate letting interest. The second is the professional couple or executive seeking an owner-occupied pied-à-terre within walking distance of Great World City, Orchard Road, and the Singapore River waterfront, with the assurance that their freehold land title will hold its intrinsic value irrespective of lease decay.
Location & Connectivity
The Verv @ RV occupies one of the most transit-advantaged positions on the River Valley corridor. Great World MRT station (Thomson-East Coast Line) is 0.13 km from the doorstep — approximately a 90-second to two-minute level walk via the riverside pavement — making this one of the closest MRT-to-lobby distances of any CCR residential development. The Thomson-East Coast Line connects directly to the CBD at Maxwell and Shenton Way, to Orchard via Orchard Boulevard, and northward to Woodlands and Johor Bahru via the Causeway. Somerset MRT (North-South Line) is 0.64 km away, adding a second MRT line within a comfortable 8-minute walk for Raffles Place and City Hall trips.
For drivers, the location is equally compelling. The Central Expressway slip road at Clemenceau Avenue is under five minutes, and Orchard Road itself is reachable in three to four minutes against traffic. The CBD is roughly a 10-minute drive in off-peak conditions, and the AYE can be accessed via Alexandra Road within eight minutes. This dual connectivity — excellent MRT and good road access — is particularly valued by the corporate-letting market that has historically driven The Verv’s above-average rental throughput.
Amenity depth within walking distance is considerable. Great World mall is immediately adjacent, offering Cold Storage, a foodcourt, restaurants, and a cinema. The Orchard Road belt sits 10 to 15 minutes on foot and encompasses Ion Orchard, Paragon, and Wheelock Place. For green space, Fort Canning Park is roughly 15 minutes on foot via River Valley Road, and the Singapore River Promenade — the stretch linking Clarke Quay, Robertson Quay, and Great World — is accessible within a five-minute walk, providing a rare combination of riverside running trail and F&B strip in the same address. Kheng Cheng School is 0.15 km away, and Fairfield Methodist Primary is 0.60 km, giving families within the 1 km primary school ballot radius genuine optionality.
Schools & Education
2 primary schools within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Kheng Cheng School | primary | Within 1 km |
| Fairfield Methodist School (Primary) | primary | Within 1 km |
| Gan Eng Seng School | secondary | ~1.2 km |
| ACS (Junior) | primary | ~1.2 km |
| Gan Eng Seng Primary School | primary | ~1.2 km |
| St. Anthony's Primary School | primary | ~1.4 km |
| Outram Secondary School | secondary | ~1.4 km |
| Chatsworth International School (Orchard) | international | ~1.5 km |
Facilities
The Verv @ RV’s facility set is deliberately small-scale and impeccably maintained. The centrepiece is a 20-metre lap pool with an adjoining spa corner, housed on the elevated second-storey podium to capture the cross-breeze off the Singapore River and separate the amenity deck from street-level noise. A gym occupies the adjoining space — compact but functional, with a cardio-and-weights layout suited to residents who do not require a full health-club experience inside their building. BBQ facilities and car parking complete the provision. There is no tennis court, children’s pool, or function room, and at 26 units the monthly maintenance levy reflects that restraint — an advantage many owner-investors specifically seek when sizing up recurring holding costs against rental income.
“The pool area is genuinely lovely — elevated, with a view across to the river and Great World City. It’s never crowded because of the building size. I swim most mornings before work and I’ve had the lap lane to myself every single time. The gym is functional enough that I cancelled my external gym membership in the first month.”
— Owner-resident, via PropertyGuru reviews, 2023
The practical advantage of boutique-scale facilities becomes clear in direct comparison with larger neighbours. At The Avenir (376 units) and Irwell Hill Residences (540 units), pool and gym booking queues during evenings and weekends are a common resident complaint. At The Verv, exclusivity is structural rather than marketed — 26 households sharing a lap pool means peak-hour crowding is a near-impossibility. The trade-off is that the MCST cannot cross-subsidise advanced amenities like a squash court or spa treatment room; residents who need those facilities will want to budget for a separate gym membership or take advantage of Great World mall’s fitness offerings next door.
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 3 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $1,950,000 to $2,250,000, averaging $2,050,000 (~$2,248 psf).
Rents range from $3,900 to $11,800 per month across 61 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 3.5%.
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2025, the average PSF has appreciated by 15.4% (from $1,948 to $2,248 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
The Verv @ RV’s most meaningful competitors are in two camps: freehold peers and leasehold new launches. On the freehold side, The Avenir at S$3,190 psf is the clearest tenure equivalent — also freehold, also in D9, but considerably larger (376 units), much newer (2023 TOP), and carrying a commensurately higher absolute quantum. The Avenir wins on facility scale, unit newness, and brand recognition; The Verv wins on value-per-psf-of-freehold-land, MRT distance, and yield. On the leasehold side, Irwell Hill Residences at S$2,726 psf (99-year) and River Green at S$3,135 psf (99-year, 2025 launch) both offer fresher amenity stacks, larger developer brand assurance, and larger unit footprints — but both start the lease clock immediately. A buyer putting S$2.2m into a 99-year unit in 2025 owns an asset that will have roughly 84 years left on its lease by the time many mortgages are repaid; the same quantum in The Verv buys perpetual land title.
The practical decision matrix is straightforward: choose the leasehold new launches if unit size, brand-new fitout, and full-scale resort facilities are non-negotiable. Choose The Verv @ RV if freehold land title, doorstep MRT access, provably strong rental income, and meaningful psf discount to the competition are the priority. The two buyer profiles rarely overlap, which is part of what makes The Verv a stable, if illiquid, niche asset rather than a broadly contested resale product.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| THE VERV @ RV | Freehold | — | 26 | $2,248 |
| IRWELL HILL RESIDENCES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2020 | 2021 | 540 | $2,726 |
| RIVER GREEN | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2024 | 2025 | 524 | $3,135 |
| RIVER MODERN | 99 years leasehold | — | — | $3,237 |
| THE AVENIR | Freehold | 2021 | 376 | $3,190 |
| KOPAR AT NEWTON | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2019 | 2021 | 378 | $2,512 |
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates THE VERV @ RV across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“We moved here on a corporate relocation from Hong Kong, and the building checks every box we had. The MRT is literally at the end of the driveway — I walk to Great World station in under two minutes each morning. Great World mall is right there for groceries, and the Robertson Quay restaurants are five minutes on foot. The unit is well-proportioned and the pool is always quiet. We’ve renewed twice.”
— Expatriate tenant, via PropertyGuru, 2024
“Bought a 2-bedroom unit here in 2018 as a yield investment. It has never sat empty for more than four weeks between tenancies. The tenants are almost always corporate professionals — CBD banking, law firms, consulting. The Great World MRT opening in 2021 was a step-change: rent went up by about eight percent in the six months after the station opened and it has held. For its size and age this building punches well above its weight on rental income.”
— Owner-investor, via EdgeProp, 2023
“The condo is well-run and the 26-unit scale keeps everything personal — you actually know your neighbours. The main thing to be aware of is that River Valley Road can be noisy at night on weekends because of the Robertson Quay crowd. Higher floors cope better. The gym is small but well-kept. I’d have liked a bigger pool, but honestly it’s never crowded so it works out fine.”
— Owner-resident, via 99.co, 2022
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold tenure at S$2,248 psf — 18–30% discount to leasehold new launches in same corridor
- Great World MRT (Thomson-East Coast Line) at 0.13 km — among the shortest MRT-to-lobby distances in the CCR
- Somerset MRT (North-South Line) 0.64 km — two MRT lines within 10-minute walk
- 61 rental transactions against 26 units = 2.3x turnover ratio proving sustained corporate/expat demand
- Gross yield 3.45% — strong for CCR freehold; above district average
- Investment Score 69/100 — top quartile for D9 boutique freehold
- Walkability 91/100 — Great World mall, Robertson Quay, and Orchard Road all accessible on foot
- ONG & ONG architecture with elevated second-storey pool deck and river-facing sightlines
- Kheng Cheng School 0.15 km — 1 km primary school ballot advantage for families
- 26-unit exclusivity means facilities are never crowded and maintenance fees remain contained
- Only 3 sales in analysis window — resale liquidity is structurally thin; exit on short timeline may require discount
- Unit sizes 1,001–1,130 sqft (2BR) below the 1,200+ sqft expected by some CCR corporate tenant profiles
- River Valley Road weekend noise from Robertson Quay F&B crowd affects lower-floor front-facing stacks
- Facility set is minimal by CCR standards — no tennis court, children's pool, or function room
- Building completed 2011 — finishes and kitchen/bathroom fitouts are dated vs 2020s new launches
- En-Bloc score 44/100 — site too small (26 units) to attract meaningful en-bloc premium or developer interest
- Small gym may not satisfy residents who need full health-club amenities within the development
- Limited visitor parking given compact site footprint
Verdict
The Verv @ RV is a niche proposition that rewards buyers who know exactly what they are looking for. At S$2,248 psf on freehold tenure, it sits at a compelling 18–30% discount to immediately comparable leasehold new launches in the same corridor — River Green at S$3,135 psf, River Modern at S$3,237 psf, and Irwell Hill Residences at S$2,726 psf are all 99-year leases launched after 2020. For a buyer who understands lease decay mathematics and the long-term differential between freehold and leasehold land value in the CCR, that gap is not a function of quality but of age and scale — and it presents a genuine mispricing opportunity relative to tenure.
The rental story is equally distinctive. A 3.45% gross yield on a CCR freehold at $2,248 psf is an above-average return for the district, and the 61 rental transactions logged against just 26 units is a transaction-to-unit ratio that most CCR buildings cannot approach. The Great World MRT adjacency — at 0.13 km, genuinely the closest major-line station to any door in River Valley — anchors the corporate-letting demand that drives this throughput. Tenants paying $5,600–$6,500 per month here are paying specifically for location, and the location is defensible in a way that few 2011-vintage boutique buildings can claim.
The honest counterweight is liquidity. With just three sales in the analysis window and 26 total units, resale turnover is structurally thin. Exit opportunities are infrequent, and a seller working against a deadline would likely need to accept a discount to median to move the asset in under 90 days. The right investor for The Verv @ RV is one who treats it as a long-duration freehold income asset — patient, yield-focused, and prepared to let the intrinsic land value compound over a 10–15 year horizon rather than chasing short-cycle capital appreciation. That is a legitimate and historically well-rewarded strategy for CCR freehold in Singapore, but it requires temperament to match.