For 66 years, crowds gathered at the former Bukit Timah Race Course, off Dunearn Road — not for condo showflats, but to watch horses. Opened in 1933, the racecourse drew Singapore and foreign dignitaries alike, most memorably a 1972 visit by Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Princess Anne.

Henry Ong, Frasers Property’s senior head of business development and director of development management, recollects that glamorous era, when the site was “the playground for European high society, local wealthy families and once graced by British royalty”.

The 176ha site is entering its third reincarnation. Racing ended in 1999. The next two decades were characterised by a series of interim uses — a car mart, a shopping arcade, golf driving range and sports fields. Under its latest Master Plan, URA unveiled plans to redevelop the site into the new Bukit Timah Turf City precinct, with a long-term vision for 15,000 to 20,000 homes, including Bukit Timah’s first public housing in almost 40 years.

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A first-mover in a storied address

The first private residential project to break ground in the new precinct is Dunearn House, a 380-unit, 99-year leasehold condo previewing on July 10, with sales starting a fortnight later on July 25. “We are very excited because from the time it first opened in the 1930s, and now — nearly a century later — we have the opportunity to kickstart the redevelopment of Turf City with Dunearn House,” says Ong.

The 145,173 sq ft site was hotly contested when it was put up for tender, drawing nine bids by the close in June 2025. The consortium of Frasers Property, CSC Land Group and Sekisui House submitted the winning bid of $491.45 million, or $1,410 psf per plot ratio (ppr).

The 380 units are split into two collections. Fronting Dunearn Road are three 10-storey blocks — the Luxury Collection — with efficient two- and three-bedroom units aimed at smaller families making their first move into Bukit Timah. Behind them, two 19-storey blocks form the Pinnacle Collection, offering larger three- and four-bedroom-plus-study units designed for bigger families and right-sizers from nearby landed estates.

While two-bedroom units make up 176 (46.3%) of Dunearn House’s units, three- and four-bedroom units account for 204 (53.7%) of the development. The units within the development are designed to be “family-centric”, notes Frasers Property’s Ong.

Indicative prices for two-bedroom units (527 to 678 sq ft) start from $1.475 million ($2,799 psf); three-bedders (872 to 1,001 sq ft) from $2.597 million ($2,978 psf); and four-bedroom units (1,184 to 1,378 sq ft) from $3.588 million ($3,030 psf).

“Dunearn House’s indicative pricing reflects the premium associated with the Bukit Timah area,” says Mohan Sandrasegeran, SRI head of research and data analytics. “It is also well-aligned with prevailing buyer preferences.”

Read also: Frasers Property, CSC Land and Sekisui House to preview Dunearn House on July 10, with prices starting from $2,799 psf

According to SRI Research, the $2 million to under $3 million segment took the largest share of new non-landed private home transactions in the Core Central Region (CCR) in 1H2026, at 45%, with homes below $2 million next at 26.6%.

Schools, trains and trees

Ong himself lives in Bukit Timah, and having “lived and breathed” the area, says its biggest draw is proximity to popular schools — from Nanyang Primary School to Methodist Girls’ School, Nanyang Girls’ High School, Hwa Chong Institution and National Junior College. “Families who live in Bukit Timah generally stay for the duration of their children’s primary and secondary or even up to pre-university years, which could be 10 to 12 years,” he notes.

Dunearn House is a four- to 10-minute walk from the Sixth Avenue and King Albert Park MRT stations, and the future Turf City MRT Station. From Sixth Avenue Station, it’s just two stops to Botanic Gardens Interchange Station for the Downtown and Circle lines. The Circle Line’s final three stations — Keppel, Cantonment and Prince Edward Road — will open on July 12, completing the loop and improving connectivity islandwide, Ong notes.

The area’s other draw is nature: Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, the Botanic Gardens, and a 29km cycling trail from the old Bukit Timah Fire Station to Tanjong Pagar Railway Station are nearby. The Turf City redevelopment adds a 40ha nature park incorporating the existing Eng Neo Avenue Forest and Bukit Tinggi.

The precinct comprises four neighbourhoods — Stables Commune along Dunearn Road, Racecourse Neighbourhood around the old Grandstand, the hillier Saddle Club Knolls, and Tinggi Hills overlooking the Central Catchment Nature Reserve — each envisioned as a “10-minute neighbourhood” with shopping, recreation and transport all within a short walk.

Dunearn House sits in Stables Commune, on the site of the old stables and workers’ quarters, next to the Art-Deco former Dunearn Water Depot built in 1952. It is surrounded by the landed estates of Kampong Chantek and Vanda Road and the Good Class Bungalow areas of Swiss Club Road and Binjai Park.

Read also: Lentor Gardens Residences preview on July 4-5 drew 5,000 visitors

The consortium engaged Ong & Ong — architects behind some of Bukit Timah, Dalvey Estate and Bishopsgate’s most iconic bungalows — to bring “the landed living feel” into the design, says Ong.

A different kind of first mover

Unlike Singapore’s other new master-planned precincts, which tend to sit in suburban areas, Bukit Timah Turf City is embedded in an already-established, prime residential estate in District 11 of the CCR.

“Projects in those areas, being located in the Outside Central Region, are positioned as mass market homes, and tap a broader demand catchment,” says Kelvin Fong, CEO of PropNex. “Dunearn House, being the very first launch in the high-profile Bukit Timah Turf City, could see firm buying interest and a healthy launch performance later this month.”

Marcus Chu, CEO of ERA Singapore, expects the precinct to become “livelier” with new infrastructure, including the Turf City MRT Station on the Cross Island Line, which is expected to open by 2032. “Proximity to an MRT station often raises property values, so residents of Dunearn House could have an advantage when reselling their units.”

PropNex’s Fong expects buyers to span owner-occupiers, HDB upgraders, investors and right-sizers from nearby landed housing. He sees core demand from families drawn to the school cluster and low-density surroundings, plus longer-horizon buyers betting on the precinct’s transformation.

Weighing it against the competition

The last new 99-year leasehold launch in Bukit Timah was the 476-unit Fourth Avenue Residences in January 2019. Completed in 2022, it is linked directly to the Sixth Avenue MRT Station. Its resale transactions, based on caveats lodged from April to June, ranged from $2,674 psf for a 710 sq ft two-bedder to $2,849 psf for a 1,109 sq ft three-bedder.

Other freehold project launches in the vicinity include the 285-unit Royalgreen (2019), 230-unit Perfect Ten (2021), 180-unit Watten House (2023) and boutique 32 Gilstead (2024) — all fully sold.

“For freehold condos in the prime districts, the unit mix is very different as they tend to be larger,” says Dominic Lee, PropNex head of luxury team and investment sales.

For instance, Watten House’s four-bedroom units and penthouses — the fastest-selling units — fetched $11.8 million ($3,457 psf) to $14.5 million ($3,545 psf). “It’s a different league of buyers, and they tend to be more affluent,” Lee adds. “For Dunearn House, it’s more aspirational, and [the buyers are] predominantly upgraders.”

Mark Yip, CEO of Huttons Asia, notes that in 2025, almost 80% of new CCR homes were bought by Singaporeans at prices around $3 million. About 15.7% of these CCR buyers had an HDB address and 55.3% a private one.

Still, Dunearn House may see more private homeowners who are rightsizing or transferring wealth to their children, adds Yip. As at 1Q2026, Bukit Timah has over 10,000 landed homes and more than 22,000 non-landed units — providing a substantial demand pool, he notes.

PropNex’s Fong adds that rising land costs could push future prices higher: land rates for Government Land Sales in the Rest of Central Region (RCR) have recently crossed $1,400 to $1,500 psf ppr, close to what Dunearn House’s CCR site fetched last year at $1,410 psf ppr.

In May, a joint venture between Wing Tai Holdings and Metro Holdings acquired the neighbouring Dunearn Road GLS site for $533 million ($1,625 psf ppr). They plan to develop the site into a new 330-unit private condo.

How the wider CCR market is faring

Two other CCR projects were rolled out in 1H2026: the 246-unit freehold Newport Residences in Tanjong Pagar in late January, which sold 57% of units at an average $3,370 psf; and the 455-unit leasehold River Modern in early March, which sold 90% at an average $3,266 psf on its launch weekend — “despite being launched a week after the US-Iran war started”, notes PropNex’s Lee.

In 2025, seven CCR projects were launched, including the 348-unit Robertson Opus, 524-unit River Green and 666-unit Skye at Holland. Combined new CCR unit sales hit 1,916 last year, versus just 378 in 2024 — a jump ERA’s Chu attributes to “appealing projects”. He points to River Green and Skye at Holland, where take-ups were 88% and 99% respectively on their launch weekends.

The median price gap between new non-landed CCR and RCR homes narrowed to 10% in 2025 — the tightest on record, according to PropNex Research — before widening back to around 20% in 1H2026 (CCR at $3,184 psf versus RCR’s $2,643 psf).

“Despite the widening gap, it remains narrow by historical standards”, well below the 40% to 80% range seen between 2006 and 2019, says Fong. “From that perspective, prime homes today still trade at a comparatively moderate premium to the city fringe.”

More CCR supply is entering the market in 2H2026: Amberwood at Holland, The Serra Residences on Bassein Road and One Leonie Residences, which collectively offer 743 units, says ERA.

Huttons’ Yip expects rising land and construction costs — the latter driven by the US-Iran war — to push 2027 CCR launch prices towards $3,600 psf. “Dunearn House is well-priced against comparable resale units and new CCR launches in 2026,” he adds. “It should see a strong take-up.”

Frasers Property’s Ong is more circumspect: Given how new CCR launches have fared in 1H2026, he says, “we would be happy if we could achieve a take-up rate of 70% at launch”.

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