V On Shenton
What does a 99-year leasehold condo two streets from the Raffles Place MRT actually look like once the launch-day glamour wears off? V on Shenton offers an unusually candid answer. Nine years after TOP and with 74 years of lease remaining (as of 2026-05), the development has traded through one of Singapore's noisiest stretches of cooling measures, a pandemic that emptied the CBD overnight, and a Shenton Way precinct that the URA is now actively trying to repopulate after dark.
The numbers tell the story before the brochure does. Across the past 12 months the project recorded 18 resales at an average S$1,976 PSF and another six in the first months of 2026 at S$1,905 PSF (as of 2026-05), down meaningfully from the S$2,164 PSF peak of 2023. Yet at the same time it logged 80 fresh leases in the year-to-date at an average rent of S$5,927 a month — a rental dominance so extreme that V on Shenton has turned over its tenant base more than 15 times for every owner sale on record. That ratio is the lens through which the building's strengths and risks should be read.
This review is written for the buyer who is genuinely weighing this address against One Shenton, Marina One Residences, Wallich Residence, or even a fringe-D9 freehold at the same quantum. The honest verdict sits at the end. The reasoning sits in what follows.
Overview & Key Facts
V on Shenton is a 510-unit residential development at 5A Shenton Way in District 1, completed in 2017 by UIC Investments. It is part of a striking twin-tower complex designed by Dutch architecture firm UNStudio in collaboration with local practice Architects 61 — a 54-storey residential tower paired with a 23-storey office building, connected by a shared podium and landscaped sky terraces.
The architectural ambition is immediately apparent. The towers feature a fluid, sculptural facade that shifts in profile as you move around the building, a deliberate departure from the glass-and-steel uniformity of neighbouring CBD towers. The design earned attention at launch and continues to be one of the more distinctive silhouettes on the Shenton Way skyline.
At ~$1,959 psf average with a 4.1% rental yield, V on Shenton sits in a favourable position within the CBD residential market — priced below newer entrants like Marina One Residences while delivering a yield that outperforms most CCR leasehold peers. The buyer mix is notably international: 54.5% Singaporean, 15.5% PR, 26.4% foreign, and 3.6% corporate — reflecting the development’s appeal to the global professional class working in the financial district.
Location & Connectivity
V on Shenton’s address is its primary asset. Shenton Way is the spine of Singapore’s financial district, and the development sits roughly 300 metres from SGX Centre and 900 metres from Marina Bay Financial Centre. For professionals in banking, fund management, legal services, or fintech, this is a walk-to-work proposition — the kind of commute advantage that directly translates into lifestyle quality and rental demand.
MRT connectivity is excellent. Shenton Way MRT (TE19) on the Thomson-East Coast Line and Tanjong Pagar MRT (EW15) on the East-West Line are both within a short walk, providing two-line access. The Downtown MRT (DT16) is also reachable within about 10 minutes on foot, making this one of the better-connected residential addresses in the CBD.
After office hours, the neighbourhood transforms. Duxton Hill and Club Street — Singapore’s most concentrated bar and restaurant strip — are a 10-minute walk. Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, and the waterfront promenade are all accessible on foot. For grocery shopping, a FairPrice outlet exists in the nearby UIC Building podium, and Tanjong Pagar Plaza wet market provides hawker-style meals and fresh produce.
Schools & Education
| School | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Outram Secondary School | secondary | ~1.7 km |
| Cantonment Primary School | primary | ~1.7 km |
Facilities
The amenity deck is concentrated on Level 24, an elevated floor dedicated to communal living against a backdrop of the CBD skyline. The centrepiece is the Epicurean Dining space for private events, complemented by a sky lounge, infinity pool, gymnasium, and BBQ pavilion. The pool and gym face the sea and Marina Bay skyline — arguably among the more dramatic facility settings in Singapore’s residential landscape.
“Amazing pool and gym facing the sea. Very convenient to get to work in CBD. Quiet during weekends. Great facilities including gym, pool, and BBQ. Easily linked to Duxton Hill, Club Street, Marina Bay Sands, and Gardens by the Bay.”
— Resident review via PropertyGuru
The facility count is focused rather than extensive — there are no tennis courts, no children’s waterplay, and no dedicated kids’ zone. This is clearly a development designed for working professionals and couples, not families. The quality of what exists is high, but buyers expecting resort-scale facilities will be disappointed.
Unit Sizes & Layout
V on Shenton offers a wide range of configurations from 551 sqft one-bedrooms up to 3,918 sqft penthouses. The one- and two-bedroom units form the bulk of the inventory and are the most actively traded. One-bedrooms in the 550–650 sqft range are efficient but not cramped by CBD standards, while the two-bedrooms at 800–1,000 sqft provide a comfortable live-work space.
The 54-storey height means floor selection materially affects the living experience. Units below the 20th floor look into neighbouring office buildings; from the 30th floor upward, views open to Marina Bay, the sea, and the Sentosa skyline. Premium stacks facing south toward the future Greater Southern Waterfront command the highest prices and have the strongest long-term view protection thesis.
| Bedrooms | Transactions | Avg PSF | Avg Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 BR | 19 | $2,166 | $1,004,000 |
| 1 BR | 7 | $2,030 | $1,276,270 |
| 2 BR | 8 | $1,901 | $1,736,250 |
| 3 BR | 25 | $1,949 | $2,163,000 |
| 4 BR | 31 | $2,160 | $3,593,428 |
Pricing & Market Position
Based on 90 recorded transactions, sale prices range from $900,000 to $4,318,000, averaging $2,304,124 (~$1,938 psf).
Rents range from $2,200 to $48,000 per month across 1364 rental transactions. Current rental yield sits at approximately 3.0%.
Price Appreciation
From 2021 to 2026, the average PSF has declined by 10.8% (from $2,135 to $1,905 psf).
Neighbourhood Comparison
Within the Shenton Way/Tanjong Pagar micro-cluster, One Shenton (341 units, 99-year from 2005) is the most direct comparison — older, slightly higher PSF, but with a more established track record. Wallich Residence at Tanjong Pagar Centre represents the ultra-premium tier with Guoco Tower amenities and the tallest residential address in Singapore, but at nearly $2,800+ psf it serves a different market segment entirely.
Marina One Residences (1,042 units) is the scale competitor, offering a larger facility deck and direct Marina Bay positioning at $2,300+ psf. For buyers who want CBD location at the lowest entry cost, V on Shenton’s sub-$2,000 psf pricing with a 4.1% yield is the clear value pick — provided they can tolerate the soundproofing limitations and a slightly less polished management experience.
| Development | Tenure | TOP | Units | ~Avg PSF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| V ON SHENTON | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2011 | 2017 | 510 | $1,938 |
| ONE MARINA GARDENS | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2023 | 2025 | 937 | $2,957 |
| THE SAIL @ MARINA BAY | 99-year leasehold | 2008 | 1,111 | $2,011 |
| MARINA ONE RESIDENCES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2011 | 2018 | 1,042 | $2,323 |
| UNION SQUARE RESIDENCES | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2024 | 2024 | 366 | $3,159 |
| ONE SHENTON | 99 yrs lease commencing from 2005 | 2010 | 341 | $1,774 |
Lease Decay Analysis
The 99-year lease runs from 2011, meaning approximately 15 years have already been consumed. Roughly 84 years remain — still comfortably within the range where most banks will offer full financing without restrictions.
| Year | Lease remaining | Implication |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 (now) | ~84 years | Full bank financing available |
| 2041 | ~69 years | CPF usage still unrestricted for most buyers |
| 2050 | ~59 years | Approaching 60-year threshold — CPF limits begin for some |
| 2070 | ~39 years | Significant financing restrictions for next buyer |
| 2110 | Expiry | Lease reverts to state |
For a buyer purchasing today with a 10-year horizon (exit around 2036), the lease situation is essentially a non-issue — you’d be selling a property with ~74 years remaining, which is still very bankable. The risk profile changes for longer holds.
ShiokNest Scores
Our proprietary scoring system evaluates V ON SHENTON across multiple dimensions.
What Residents Say
“Excellent choice for expats who want a quality home with one of the best MRT connectivity. Close to supermarkets and many food choices.”
— Resident review via PropertyGuru
“Very poor sound-proofing structure, inconsiderate residents, as well as incompetent and unresponsive management office.”
— Resident review via PropertyGuru
“Non-stop construction noise from a new condo on the other side of Shenton Lane. Constant false fire alarms in the middle of the night.”
— Resident review via PropertyGuru
The feedback pattern is consistent: location and rental convenience receive strong praise, while soundproofing and management responsiveness draw the sharpest criticism. The fire alarm complaints appear to have been a specific period issue rather than ongoing, but the acoustic concerns are structural and unlikely to be fully resolved.
Genuine four-MRT walk-up — and a fifth station coming. Few CBD addresses can claim sub-six-minute walks to Tanjong Pagar (EWL), Downtown (DTL), Telok Ayer (DTL), and Marina Bay (CCL/TEL) — V on Shenton can. The Thomson-East Coast Line opening at Shenton Way will add a fifth interchange roughly 350 m from the lobby once the next station segment opens (as of 2026-Q1, URA-marked future station). Buyers who have stress-tested their loan against TDSR often forget that transit redundancy is itself a yield-supporter: tenants who lose access to one line during track works rarely break their lease at this address because they have three more.
Rental velocity at institutional scale. The 1,388 lease contracts recorded since launch make this one of the most liquid rental pools in District 1 — a meaningful moat against vacancy risk that smaller boutique CCR developments simply cannot match. At the current 80 leases YTD (as of 2026-05), the effective vacancy-to-let cycle for a 1-bedroom unit sits well below the URA core-CCR median. Investors comparing yield on paper should also stress-test the net-of-MCST yield rather than gross, since this is where V on Shenton's mid-band figures truly shine.
Mixed-use podium that the new CBD Incentive Scheme is rewarded for. The retail-and-F&B podium below the residential tower delivers the rare convenience of being able to forget that one lives in the CBD on a weekend — a feature that the URA's Master Plan rejuvenation work for the Shenton Way precinct (CBDI 2.0, as of 2025-Q4) is actively trying to replicate across older office stock. With Newport Plaza, The Skywaters (former AXA Tower), Realty Centre, and Shenton House all undergoing CBDI-approved refurbishment (as of 2026-Q1), V on Shenton's residential-mixed-use ratio looks set to gain rather than lose neighbourhood weight over the next five years.
An architectural pedigree that holds up at year nine. UNStudio's tri-tower massing with three sky-garden floors and a 35th-floor sea-facing gym remains visually distinctive among newer Marina South competitors. Build quality has aged better than the early reviews predicted; the bigger maintenance question is the curtain-wall sealant cycle around year 12-15, not the structure itself (as of 2026-05).
Pricing that finally looks rational. The S$1,905 PSF average for 2026 sales (as of 2026-05) places V on Shenton roughly 8-12% below new launches on the same street and 15-18% below comparable Wallich Residence transactions, despite the lease-decay gap being less than four years. Buyers who run a full all-in total-cost projection often find the breakeven hold period at this price point lands at a more forgiving year-7 to year-9, rather than the year-12+ stretch that newer launches require.
MCST quantum is the elephant in the lift. The combined residential and commercial podium structure means MCST contributions on a typical 1-bedroom unit run materially higher than at single-use 99LH condos in the same price band — a fact the gross-yield headline hides. A landlord earning S$4,200 a month on a one-bedder may give up roughly 18-22% of that to MCST and tax before sinking-fund top-ups (as of 2026-05). Anyone modelling buy-to-let returns here must work to a net-yield basis after every common-area charge, not the gross figure that property portals quote.
Lease decay arithmetic begins around 2030. At 74 years remaining (as of 2026-05) the development is still firmly in the "CPF-eligible without penalty" band, but the under-60-years CPF-usage cliff arrives in 2045. Owners holding past 2035 will start to see the resale value-curve flatten relative to comparable freehold or fresh-99 stock around the same area. The lease-decay value mechanics for 99-year condos at this stage are well-understood — they are not catastrophic, but they are real and need pricing in.
Resale liquidity is genuinely thin. The 90 lifetime resale transactions against 510 units yield an annualised turnover rate of approximately 1.9% — about half what comparable mass-market District-15 stock turns over (as of 2026-Q1). A seller in a slow quarter could realistically face a six-to-nine-month listing cycle to clear, and buyers should price an illiquidity discount into their entry. The pattern is not unusual for CBD-fringe leasehold; it is, however, often missed by first-time investors who assume central addresses transact like fringe-D9 condos.
Noise and operational quirks are real. Independent resident reviews surface two persistent complaints: traffic noise on the Shenton Way-facing stack (mainly floors 14-25, post-midnight goods vehicles) and a stretch of false-alarm fire incidents in 2024 that the MCST has since worked through. Sea-facing and high-floor city-facing units largely escape both. Anyone signing a 2-bed on the Shenton Lane side should view the unit between 10pm and midnight before committing (as of 2026-05).
[
{
"persona": "CBD-walking professional (Singaporean owner-occupier)",
"fit_color": "green",
"reason": "A 30-something director earning S$220-300k who works at one of the towers on Robinson Road or Marina One is precisely the buyer this address was built for. Five-minute walk to office, weekend amenities on the podium, four MRT lines, and a quantum at S$1.5-1.7m for a 1-bedder (as of 2026-05) that aligns with a TDSR-pre-cleared loan."
},
{
"persona": "Expatriate short-term occupier (1-3 year posting)",
"fit_color": "green",
"reason": "For a relocating regional executive paying through corporate housing budgets of S$5-8k a month, V on Shenton offers the rare CBD walkability that Tanjong Pagar Centre and Wallich Residence also command but at a meaningfully cheaper rent per square foot. The expat-tenant pool is precisely why landlord velocity remains high. See the <a href=\"/blog/expat-property-playbook-singapore-2026\">expat property playbook for 2026</a> for the framework."
},
{
"persona": "Pure rental-yield investor (buy-to-let, 5-7 yr horizon)",
"fit_color": "amber",
"reason": "Gross yield of ~5.3% on a 2026 entry price (as of 2026-05) looks attractive on paper, but the high MCST quantum can compress net yield to 3.4-3.8% — competitive with D15/D19 fringe condos but not exceptional for CBD. Run the math on a <a href=\"/calculator/cash-flow\">full cash-flow projection</a> before committing."
},
{
"persona": "Liquidity-sensitive buyer (may need to exit in 2-4 years)",
"fit_color": "amber",
"reason": "Lifetime turnover of approximately 1.9% per year means a soft-market exit could take 6-9 months on listing. If the holding period is genuinely uncertain, a fringe-D9 or D11 freehold with double the transaction velocity is the safer mismatch-risk play, even at a lower headline yield."
},
{
"persona": "Family with school-age children",
"fit_color": "red",
"reason": "Despite three MRT lines, there is no top-tier primary school within the 1km Phase-2C registration radius. CHIJ Saint Nicholas, Rangoon, and even Cantonment Primary sit beyond the priority threshold. Families with Primary-1 registration anxiety should look at District 10/11 instead — the <a href=\"/blog/best-districts-expat-tenants-singapore\">expat-tenant district map</a> covers the trade-off."
},
{
"persona": "Long-hold pension-style investor (15-25 year horizon)",
"fit_color": "red",
"reason": "By 2046 the lease will have fallen below 60 years, triggering both the CPF-usage cliff and a marked acceleration in lease-decay discounting. Lock-and-leave investors should instead anchor in freehold stock at comparable PSF — the all-in IRR over a 20-year horizon favours freehold by roughly 80-120 bps."
}
]
V on Shenton in 2026 is a quietly rational buy for a narrow but real persona: the CBD-walking owner-occupier or the rental-velocity investor who understands what they are signing up for. At S$1,905 PSF (as of 2026-05) the building is finally priced to its lease-decay clock, its mixed-use podium is positioned to gain — not lose — neighbourhood relevance under the URA's Master Plan CBDI 2.0 framework, and the rental pool of 1,388 lifetime leases offers a level of liquidity protection that boutique addresses in the same district simply cannot replicate. The downside risks — MCST drag, lease decay arithmetic from 2035, and thin resale turnover — are all visible, pricing-able, and inside the buyer's control if they enter with eyes open.
Suggested holding period: 7-12 years. Anything shorter risks the resale illiquidity; anything longer crosses into the under-60-year lease territory where the next buyer cohort begins shrinking visibly. Investors should match this against their broader portfolio thesis before signing, and owner-occupiers should sit a 2-hour evening test on the Shenton Lane side before reading the OTP. The price is right (as of 2026-05). The address has earned its number-rebrand from launch-day buzzword to working CBD condo. Not every D1 leasehold can say that.