Urban Resort Condominium
Overview & Key Facts
Urban Resort Condominium occupies a privileged address along Cairnhill Road in District 9 — the heart of Singapore’s Core Central Region, where prime freehold land is measured in tens of millions per plot and genuinely boutique developments are vanishingly rare. Developed by Jubilee Realty Pte Ltd under the CapitaLand umbrella and completed in 2014, it comprises just 64 units across a single residential tower, making it among the most intimate luxury condominiums in the Orchard Road corridor.
The name is more than marketing language. The development was designed with the sensibility of a private resort hotel — compact, curated, and quietly confident. CapitaLand’s involvement brought institutional rigour to the project: quality finishes, considered landscaping, and a level of specification appropriate for a development pitching at the upper tier of the CCR market. At 64 units, every resident effectively has a stake in a boutique hotel-style residence where the pool is never crowded and the gym is never overrun.
The buyer profile here is distinctive. With an average transacted price above S$5.4 million and average rents of approximately S$12,000 per month, Urban Resort Condominium draws a mix of high-net-worth owner-occupiers, corporate rental tenants (particularly from the finance and professional services sectors in the Orchard and CBD corridor), and long-term capital preservation investors who value freehold land in a location where new supply is structurally constrained. For this segment, the development’s boutique scale is a feature, not a limitation.
Location & Connectivity
Cairnhill Road is one of those addresses that requires little explanation to anyone familiar with Singapore real estate. Tucked between Orchard Road and the verdant residential enclave of Cairnhill Circle, it sits at the apex of Singapore’s most coveted residential geography — equidistant from the Orchard retail belt and the quiet landed houses of Nassim Road, Cluny Road, and Tanglin. Urban Resort Condominium benefits from this positioning without suffering the noise and footfall of a directly Orchard-fronting address.
Somerset MRT (North-South Line) is approximately 420 metres away — a four to five minute walk through the Cairnhill neighbourhood streets, passing beneath mature rain trees that line the route. Orchard MRT interchange (North-South Line and Thomson-East Coast Line) is roughly 660 metres away, reachable in seven to eight minutes on foot. For residents who prefer rail, both stations give near-immediate access to the CBD, Raffles Place, and the Changi Airport spur, and the Thomson-East Coast Line extension makes Orchard an increasingly powerful interchange for east-west journeys. Orchard Boulevard station, a quieter Thomson-East Coast Line stop, is also within easy walking range at 760 metres.
For daily needs, the Orchard retail belt is on the doorstep. Wheelock Place, ION Orchard, Ngee Ann City, and Paragon are all within a 10 to 15 minute walk. The Orchard Road Food Centre and Killiney Road hawker row provide affordable eating options within the broader neighbourhood. For groceries, Cold Storage at Orchard Central and the FairPrice Fine at Scotts Square serve premium provisioning. Great World City mall — with a supermarket, dining, and gym — is a short drive or brisk 20 minute walk toward the River Valley direction, and its new Great World MRT station (TEL) has further enhanced connectivity for residents who drive or walk toward that end.
The neighbourhood’s school catchment is exceptional by any standard. Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) is approximately 470 metres away, making this one of the more compelling P1 registration addresses in Singapore. St. Anthony’s Primary, Kheng Cheng, St. Margaret’s Primary, and Fairfield Methodist Primary all fall within 1.2 km. For international school families, ISS International School operates two campuses within 1.3 km, and the broader Orchard-Newton corridor is within reach of several other international institutions along Bukit Timah and Stevens Road.
Schools & Education
2 primary schools within the 1 km Priority Phase balloting radius.
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| ACS (Junior) | primary | Within 1 km |
| St. Anthony's Primary School | primary | Within 1 km |
| Kheng Cheng School | primary | ~1.1 km |
| St. Margaret's Primary School | primary | ~1.2 km |
| Fairfield Methodist School (Primary) | primary | ~1.2 km |
| St. Margaret's Secondary School | secondary | ~1.2 km |
| ISS International School (Preston) | international | ~1.3 km |
| ISS International School (Paterson) | international | ~1.3 km |
Facilities
At 64 units, Urban Resort Condominium does not compete on facility breadth with the mega-developments of the OCR or even the larger CCR towers. What it offers instead is an experience calibrated to genuine exclusivity: a 25-metre lap pool that sees far fewer bodies per unit than any comparably sized condo, a fully equipped gymnasium, a sky terrace, a BBQ pavilion, and carefully landscaped communal gardens that give the development its resort-hotel character. The architecture and planting scheme were designed to create a sense of visual arrival — arriving home here feels different from arriving at a 300-unit block.
“The pool at Urban Resort is one of those rare facilities where you genuinely feel you have it to yourself most mornings. For the price point, that sort of peace and quiet in the middle of Cairnhill is what you’re paying for.”
— Resident feedback via PropertyGuru, 2024
The trade-off is honest: buyers accustomed to the sprawling facilities of a large development — tennis courts, function halls, multiple pools, club houses with karaoke and billiards — will find the offering here deliberately restrained. That restraint is the point. Urban Resort Condominium is designed for residents who value quiet over variety, and for whom the amenities of the Orchard neighbourhood more than compensate for what the condo compound itself does not provide. Maintenance fees per unit are moderate given the small resident base sharing the costs, though the per-unit burden is proportionally higher than in larger developments.
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 6 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $4,800,000 to $6,280,000, averaging $5,443,333.
Rents range from $8,300 to $18,200 per month across 71 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 2.7%.
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2024, the average PSF has appreciated by 5.1% (from $2,342 to $2,462 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
The natural comparators for Urban Resort Condominium are the freehold and near-freehold boutique developments that populate the broader Orchard-Cairnhill-Newton corridor. The Avenir on River Valley Close (376 units, freehold, ~S$3,190 psf) offers a significantly larger community, newer vintage, and a more liquid resale market, but sacrifices the intimate Cairnhill address and boutique character that Urban Resort uniquely provides. Kopar at Newton (~S$2,512 psf, 99-year leasehold, Newton MRT interchange directly adjacent) provides superior MRT access and stronger rental yield, but the leasehold tenure is a fundamental distinction for CCR buyers whose investment thesis is freehold permanence. For those who require scale alongside CCR freehold tenure, Irwell Hill Residences (~S$2,726 psf, 99-year) and River Green (~S$3,135 psf, 99-year) demonstrate that leasehold options at meaningfully lower PSF now dominate new supply in the district.
Urban Resort Condominium sits apart from most of these comparators by offering something none of them can fully replicate: genuinely intimate freehold living at the Cairnhill address, in a completed and established building, at transaction levels that reflect its scarcity rather than its scale. The 64-unit count is simultaneously its greatest strength (exclusivity, privacy, community quality) and its principal liquidity risk at resale. Buyers should approach it as a long-duration hold in a structurally irreplaceable location, not as a short-cycle investment vehicle.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| URBAN RESORT CONDOMINIUM | Freehold | 2014 | 64 | — |
| 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 URBAN RESORT CONDOMINIUM across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“Living here feels more like a serviced apartment than a typical condo — in the best possible way. The building is impeccably maintained, the neighbours are quiet and professional, and I rarely encounter anyone at the pool or gym. After years in large developments, the privacy is genuinely refreshing.”
— Owner-occupier feedback via EdgeProp, 2023
“The location is unbeatable for anyone working in the Orchard or CBD area. Somerset MRT is five minutes on foot, ION is ten minutes, and the neighbourhood is safe and green. My only hesitation would be the facilities — if you need tennis courts or a function hall, you won’t find them here.”
— Tenant review via PropertyGuru, 2024
“Yield is not great if you’re purely an investor — rentals are strong in absolute dollar terms but relative to price it’s a thin spread. That said, for someone holding freehold land in Cairnhill on a multi-decade horizon, this isn’t really an income vehicle. It’s capital preservation in the tightest supply belt in Singapore.”
— Investor perspective via 99.co, 2024
The pattern across review sources is consistent. Residents and tenants praise the privacy, the quiet intimacy of a small development, the impeccable location, and the professional resident profile. The recurring note of caution is on investment yield and the limited facility offering — both of which are honest reflections of what Urban Resort Condominium is, and is not. For buyers who understand the trade-offs, satisfaction rates among those who have chosen to live here appear to be high.
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Freehold tenure on Cairnhill Road — among Singapore's most defensible CCR addresses
- Genuinely boutique scale (64 units) — pool, gym and grounds rarely crowded
- Somerset MRT ~420 m walk; Orchard interchange ~660 m (NSL + TEL access)
- ACS (Junior) within 470 m — exceptional P1 balloting address
- Four primary schools within 1.2 km, two ISS campuses within 1.3 km
- CapitaLand institutional build quality and finish specification
- Orchard retail belt within 10–15 minute walk — ION, Ngee Ann City, Paragon
- Strong corporate tenant pool from finance and professional sectors
- Walkability score 90/100 — neighbourhood amenities fully accessible on foot
- Quiet, residential Cairnhill address without Orchard Road noise or footfall
- Gross yield ~2.67% — below CCR investor threshold of 3.0%+
- Very low transaction volume (6 sales) limits PSF comparability and exit liquidity
- Facility offering deliberately restrained — no tennis court, no function hall
- Investment score 48/100 reflects thin secondary market and yield compression
- Average price S$5.4M+ creates narrow buyer pool at resale
- En-bloc score 44/100 — low collective sale probability given freehold status and boutique size
- Maintenance fees per unit are proportionally higher than in larger developments
- No in-compound commercial or F&B retail — all errands require walking out
Verdict
Urban Resort Condominium occupies a very specific niche in the Singapore residential market, and it does so with uncommon conviction. It is not the right answer for every buyer in District 9 — those seeking resort-scale facilities, a large community, or the best possible PSF value relative to newer launches will find more suitable options among the larger CCR towers. But for a particular type of buyer — one who values absolute freehold tenure in Cairnhill, boutique scale, institutional quality, and the lived experience of Orchard-neighbourhood proximity — there is very little competition.
The investment case is nuanced. At a gross yield of approximately 2.67%, rental returns are below the 3.0–3.5% threshold that income-focused investors typically seek. The low transaction volume (6 sales recorded) makes PSF trend analysis thin, and the investment score of 48/100 reflects this liquidity risk alongside the structural constraint that CCR freehold boutique properties trade infrequently and attract a narrow buyer pool at resale. For capital preservation and long-term wealth transfer rather than near-term income generation, however, the freehold Cairnhill address is a credible store of value in a land-scarce market.
The comparison with The Avenir — the larger, newer freehold development a short distance away on River Valley Close — is instructive. The Avenir offers greater scale, a newer build (2022 TOP), and a more active resale market at a somewhat higher PSF (~S$3,190 psf vs Urban Resort’s recent transactional range). Urban Resort counters with greater intimacy, a more established building, and the specific Cairnhill address premium. Buyers choosing between the two are ultimately choosing between scale and newness (The Avenir) versus rarity and neighbourhood character (Urban Resort Condominium). Neither is wrong; both are defensible for the right buyer.