Dorset Gardens

The research read

Dorset Gardens is the confirmed name of the new condo on the Dorset Road state land site. It sits in District 8, off Serangoon Road in Farrer Park. It is being developed by UOL Group, Singapore Land Group and Kheng Leong, through a company called United Venture Development (2022) Pte Ltd. URA awarded them the 99-year site on 16 October 2025 for $524.3 million, or $1,338 psf ppr. That was the highest of nine bids. Preliminary plans show 425 homes in two 28-storey blocks, a preview targeted for 1Q 2027 and completion (TOP) estimated for 2Q 2030.

The project's case rests on three things you can check today. Farrer Park MRT is about 340m away, and two interchanges sit one and two stops down the same line. Three primary schools, including St. Joseph’s Institution Junior and Hong Wen School, sit within about 1km. And the land price is lower per square foot of buildable space than several OCR sites sold since 2025.

None of that sets a price. What must the developer charge, given what it paid? How does that sit against what Farrer Park homes already resell for? And what does a two-bedroom or three-bedroom here cost in cash before the keys arrive? The sections below take each in turn.

What the sales team has confirmed so far

The developer's appointed sales team released these preliminary details on 2 October 2026. They can still change when the sales licence is issued.

Divide the floor area by 425 homes and each one carries about 922 sq ft of buildable space. Part of that goes to lift lobbies, corridors and walls, so actual unit sizes will be smaller. Even so, it points to a mix weighted toward two- and three-bedroom homes rather than shoebox units. The unit mix itself has not been released.

Earlier reports said 428 homes in two 27-storey towers. Those were tender-stage guesses, and the figures above replace them. The sales team also speaks of unblocked city views from the upper floors. We cannot check a view before the stack plans are out, so treat that as the developer's word for now.

$1,338 psf ppr on the 2025–26 tender ladder

The land price is the one number already fixed, so any honest estimate starts there. The table ranks Dorset Road against every private-housing state site sold in the RCR and the OCR since January 2025. The Piccadilly Grand site, one stop away, is added for context.

Two things stand out. First, three OCR sites cost developers more than Dorset Road did. The first Chuan Grove plot went for $1,376 and Bayshore Road for $1,388. New Upper Changi Road in Bedok fetched $1,537 in September 2026. An RCR site two MRT stops from Dhoby Ghaut came in below all three. That is why most experts agree that the land cost is "lower than OCR", and it holds for those sites. It does not hold for every OCR site: most of them, from Lentor to Bedok Rise, sold for less.

Second, three of the four RCR sites sold after Dorset Road cost more: Kallang Close by 6%, Tanjong Rhu Road by 9% and Dover Drive by 16%. Only Telok Blangah Road, a month later, came in slightly lower. In 2026, developers buying in this part of the market have mostly paid more than UOL's group did. So later RCR launches will find Dorset Gardens' cost base hard to undercut.

The win was narrow. EdgeProp reported the second bid, from a five-company group including Roxy-Pacific and Wee Hur, at $518.9 million, or $1,324 psf ppr. The top bid was only 1.0% higher. Nine bidders arriving within a narrow band says developers broadly agreed on what the land was worth.

From land cost to an indicative Dorset Gardens price

We checked URA's figures ourselves. URA's award notice gives $14,405 per square metre of floor area. Divided by 10.764 square feet per square metre, that is $1,338 psf ppr. The 36,397 sq m of floor area on a 10,399 sq m site also confirms a plot ratio of 3.5. Plot ratio is the multiple of the land area a developer may build.

Land is one line in the cost stack. Our cost model adds construction, finance, professional fees and marketing to the $524.3 million land cost. That gives a development cost of roughly $966.1 million over 391,775 sq ft of buildable area. The estimated breakeven is about $2,466 psf ppr. Applying the 1.15–1.30 margin band we have measured across 42 launched projects gives an indicative launch range of $2,840–$3,210 psf. The full working is in our pricing methodology. Part of that margin is not profit. It covers the gap between the floor area a developer pays for and the smaller area it can sell.

Outside estimates run lower than ours. CBRE suggested an average of $2,700–$2,800 psf when the tender closed, and ERA quoted $2,650–$2,750 psf. Both sit at or below the bottom of our range. Pricing near those figures would mean a margin under 15% over our estimated cost. Most launches in our back-test did better than that. Every price figure on this page is an estimate and is not developer-confirmed.

Farrer Park, Little India, Dhoby Ghaut: rail two stops deep

• Farrer Park (NE8), about 340m, roughly a 5-minute walk (est.). On the North East Line, running since 2003. Nothing here waits on a future opening. Verify the walk on OneMap.
• Little India (NE7/DT12), one stop. Adds the Downtown Line, which reaches Bugis and the CBD without another change.
• Dhoby Ghaut (NE6/NS24/CC1), two stops. The North East, North South and Circle Lines meet here, so most of the network is one change away.
• By road, the Central Expressway runs close by. Serangoon Road and Balestier Road lead to the city centre, Little India and Novena.

Every line in this chain has run for two decades or more, so there is nothing to slip. The flip side is that there is no future-line boost left to collect. The market has had twenty years to price this network in. What the site sells on transport is depth: three lines within two stops, rather than one line at the doorstep.

Our map data places the central business district about 3.1km away in a straight line. That is close enough to make the "minutes from the city" description fair by train, and by car outside the peaks.

What is actually changing in Farrer Park

• Farrer Park redevelopment, announced 25 April 2022. HDB, Sport Singapore and URA said the former Farrer Park Field, about 10 hectares, would become new public housing with a new sports centre. About 1,600 HDB flats are planned. The site borders Dorset Road.
• Farrer Park Fields BTO, launched February 2023. The first flats under that plan, sold under the Prime Location Public Housing (PLH) model. The government reserves PLH for locations it rates highly.
• Kitchener Link, released 25 June 2026. URA placed a site near Farrer Park MRT on the Reserve List of its 1H2026 programme. It could yield about 145 homes. A Reserve List site is tendered only if a developer applies with an acceptable minimum bid, so it may never come to market.

Farrer Park is an old RCR district, not a new town. Singapore’s first race course opened here in 1842, and its first aircraft landed here in 1919. The redevelopment keeps that sporting link: the old field becomes homes and a sports centre. What it adds is a housing and amenity upgrade to an area that is already built. Calling it a growth corridor would overstate it.

SJI Junior, Hong Wen and the ACS pair: who actually gets in?

On our schools data, seven primary schools sit within about 2km of the site. The distances are straight lines on a map, taken from a site that has no final postal address yet. MOE measures in its own way, so confirm the band on MOE SchoolFinder or OneMap’s school query before relying on it.

The ballot column is the one that matters. At SJI Junior, the 2026 Phase 2C ballot was held among citizens living 1–2km away. That means every citizen applicant within 1km got a place without balloting, and the same happened in 2025. Dorset Gardens sits inside that 1km band on our estimate. Hong Wen, a Special Assistance Plan school, is harder. It balloted among citizens within 1km in both years: 121 applicants for 60 places in 2026. Living close gets a child into that draw. It does not win it.

The two ACS schools behave differently. ACS (Junior) at about 1.5km balloted within 1km in both years, so 1–2km families did not reach its Phase 2C draw. ACS (Primary) sits right on the 2km line in our data, at about 2.01km. Its 2026 ballot was for citizens beyond 2km, so everyone closer was placed; in 2025 it balloted within 1km. St. Margaret’s balloted narrowly in 2026, with 122 applicants for 117 places. Farrer Park Primary, the closest school, has had far more places than applicants at Phase 2C in both years.

Ballot outcomes move from year to year, and new launches nearby can add applicants. Our wider analysis is in primary schools and new launch demand.

Hospitals, hawkers and malls within a kilometre

Daily life here is already built. On our amenities dataset, using straight-line distances:

• Healthcare: Farrer Park Hospital (~0.28km), Kallang Polyclinic (~0.68km), KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (~0.84km) and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (~1.0km).
• Food: Pek Kio Market and Food Centre (~0.34km), with Whampoa, Berseh and Tekka hawker centres all within about 1km.
• Shopping: City Square Mall (~0.56km), linked to Farrer Park MRT, and Mustafa Centre (~0.59km).
• Community and sport: Pek Kio Community Club (~0.27km) and Jalan Besar Sport Centre (~0.90km).

One gap is worth naming. The nearest large NParks park in our dataset is Fort Canning Park, about 2.2km away. Families who want a big green space on foot will not find one here. The sports centre planned for the old Farrer Park Field is the nearest new open space.

Does Dorset Gardens work as a rental?

The tenant pool is real. Three hospitals within about 1km draw medical staff, and the CBD is two stops and one change away. Lodged rental contracts show what the newest homes nearby earn. Piccadilly Grand averages about $6.75 psf a month across 179 contracts. Uptown @ Farrer averages about $6.69 psf across 230.

Apply Piccadilly Grand’s rent to our indicative range and the gross yield works out at about 2.5–2.9% (est.). Property tax at the non-owner-occupied rates, maintenance fees and a month or so of vacancy each year come off that. So the income case is modest. An investor here is buying the area’s long-run price movement more than the rent. Run your own figures through our new launch ROI calculator rather than relying on a district average.

The buyer this site fits

Four kinds of buyer fit. Kallang and Whampoa flat owners who want to stay in the area while moving into a fresh 99-year lease. City professionals who want three working rail lines rather than one promised one. Families with sons aiming for SJI Junior, where within-1km citizens were placed at Phase 2C in both 2025 and 2026. And long-horizon buyers who see the state-funded Farrer Park upgrade as lasting support for the area.

It suits fewer buyers on a tight budget. A 950 sq ft three-bedroom at our indicative range would cost about $2.70–$3.05 million (est.). The 25% down payment on a first housing loan alone is about $675,000–$763,000, before Buyer’s Stamp Duty. An HDB owner relying on flat sale proceeds alone will usually need savings or CPF on top. Nor does it suit an investor buying mainly for rent, for the reasons in the section above.

Duties, loans and the cash you need

Standard private condo rules apply. There is no citizenship restriction and no minimum occupation period. Your total monthly loan repayments are capped at 55% of gross monthly income. The test uses a 4% interest rate, not the rate you are offered. You can borrow up to 75% of the price on a first housing loan, 45% on a second and 35% on a third.

Singapore Citizens pay no Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty on a first property, 20% on a second and 30% on a third. Permanent Residents pay 5% on a first and 30% on a second. Foreign buyers pay 60% flat. Buyer’s Stamp Duty applies on the tiered scale on top: about $104,600 on a $2.7 million home and $122,600 on $3.05 million. You cannot pay either stamp duty with loan money.

Seller’s Stamp Duty is the tax for selling too soon after buying. Under the schedule effective 4 July 2025 it runs for four years. The clock starts when the option is exercised, not when you get the keys. TOP is estimated for 2Q 2030. So a buyer at the 2027 preview would still be inside the four years at completion. They would be clear of it during 2031.

Progressive payments soften the cash profile. You pay 5% on booking, then 15% plus Buyer’s Stamp Duty at exercise. After that, payments follow construction milestones. 25% falls due at completion, and the final 15% a year later. Before preview, get an in-principle approval from a bank. It turns an affordability question into a known ceiling.

Work the numbers through our affordability calculator, stamp duty calculator and progressive payment calculator. The TDSR guide explains how the stress rate works. Upgraders selling a flat first should start with selling an HDB to buy a new launch. The order of the sale drives both the stamp duty and the deposit. Test the repayment at a rate above today’s. We do not forecast rates.

The risks at this price level

Six risks, with the context that changes how much each should count.

• ModeratePriced above the immediate resale enclaveOur $2,840–$3,210 psf range sits above every nearby resale once restated on today’s floor-area basis. That includes Piccadilly Grand, a stop away. The extra buys a fresh 99-year lease and a new building, against homes ten to twenty years into their own. It is a premium with a reason, not a bargain.
• ModerateThe adjacent BTO is not a near-term demand poolThe ~1,600 flats next door are Prime Location Public Housing. Owners must live in them for ten years, and can never rent out the whole flat. So they will not be upgrading or renting before the mid-2030s. Near-term demand comes from older Kallang and Whampoa flats instead.
• ModerateModest rental yieldOn lodged rents at Piccadilly Grand, gross yield at this entry price works out at about 2.5–2.9% (est.), before tax, fees and vacancy. The case here rests on own-stay demand, not running income.
• Low–moderateFuture supply in the same pocketThe Kitchener Link site near Farrer Park MRT could add about 145 homes. It is on URA's Reserve List, so it is sold only if a developer asks. The timing, and even the sale, is not certain.
• LowSchool bands not fixed to a final addressThe distances above are straight-line figures against a site without its final postal address. SJI Junior at ~0.88km and Hong Wen at ~0.92km sit near the 1km line, so a small change in measurement could matter. Verify on MOE SchoolFinder before it drives a decision.
• LowPreliminary details can changeThe 425-home count, the 28-storey blocks, the 1Q 2027 preview and the 2Q 2030 TOP are preliminary. None changes the pricing walk above, which rests on the land price and floor area URA published.

Two things worth watching

1. 25 Apr 2022Farrer Park redevelopment announcedHDB, Sport Singapore and URA confirm about 1,600 PLH flats and a sports centre on the land bordering Dorset Road.
2. Feb 2023Farrer Park Fields BTO launchedThe first flats under that plan, sold on the Prime Location Public Housing model.
3. 9 Oct 2025Tender closesNine bids. Top bid $524.3M, or $1,338 psf ppr, 1.0% above the second.
4. 16 Oct 2025URA awards the siteTo United Venture Development (2022), the UOL, Singapore Land and Kheng Leong vehicle.
5. 25 Jun 2026Kitchener Link placed on the Reserve ListA ~145-home site near Farrer Park MRT, sold only if a developer applies.
6. 2 Oct 2026Name confirmed: Dorset Gardens425 homes in two 28-storey blocks; P&T Consultants and United Tec Construction named.
7. 1Q 2027 (target)Preview and price listShowflat, floor plans, unit mix and actual pricing. The estimates on this page become facts or are corrected.
8. 2Q 2030 (est.)Estimated TOPKeys; 25% of the price falls due at TOP and the final 15% about a year later.

Our read on Dorset Gardens

Stated as a trade, it reads like this. On our estimates you pay above the surrounding resale market. In exchange you get a fresh 99-year lease, three rail lines within two stops, and a state-funded upgrade being built next door. The land underneath it cost less per square foot of buildable space than three recent OCR sites, and less than three of the four RCR sites sold since. It suits a Kallang or Whampoa upgrader with cash beyond their flat equity. It suits a professional who values good MRT connectivity. And it suits a family aiming at SJI Junior or Hong Wen on a seven-to-ten-year view. It does not suit a buyer stretching to the last dollar, or one buying mainly for rent.

Two things are worth watching. One is the launch price against our $2,840–$3,210 indicative range. Near the bottom, the low land cost has reached the buyer. At or above the top, the developer is pricing off the area’s story rather than its costs. The other is whether Kitchener Link is ever triggered. A second land price in this pocket would show whether developers still value Farrer Park the way this tender did. We update this page the day the price list is released.

For more, read our Dorset Gardens review. The wider market is in our GLS pipeline tracker and price trends map. For floor plans, the e-brochure and a showflat slot, go to the official Dorset Gardens developer sales website. It is run by the developer's appointed sales team.

Dorset Gardens in brief

• UOL, Singapore Land and Kheng Leong won the site for $1,338 psf ppr in October 2025, 1.0% above the second of nine bids.
• That is below three recent OCR sites (Chuan Grove, Bayshore Road, New Upper Changi Road) and below three of the four RCR sites sold since.
• 425 homes in two 28-storey blocks; preview targeted for 1Q 2027, TOP estimated for 2Q 2030.
• Our indicative launch range is $2,840–$3,210 psf. It is our estimate, not a developer figure.
• The surrounding resale band is about $2,120–$2,620 psf on today’s floor-area basis. Our range sits above it.
• Three rail lines sit within two stops, all already running.
• SJI Junior and Hong Wen are within about 1km. At SJI Junior, within-1km citizens were placed at Phase 2C in 2025 and 2026; Hong Wen balloted within 1km both years.
• Gross rental yield works out at about 2.5–2.9% (est.) on lodged rents nearby.

So what should you do with this? Compare the price list against $2,120–$2,620 psf, the restated resale band, not the raw resale figures. If schools drive your choice, check your child’s specific school on MOE SchoolFinder: SJI Junior and Hong Wen behave very differently at ballot. And if rent is the reason you are looking, plan on under 3% gross.

Sources: URA tender closing notice (9 Oct 2025) and award notice (16 Oct 2025) for the price, site area and floor area; URA’s 25 June 2026 release on the Kitchener Link Reserve List site; second-bid figures and analyst launch estimates as reported by EdgeProp and CBRE; project name, unit count, blocks, timing and consultants from the developer’s appointed sales team (2 Oct 2026); URA’s 25 April 2022 joint release with HDB and Sport Singapore on the Farrer Park redevelopment; HDB’s February 2023 Farrer Park Fields BTO exercise; LTA network records; MOE 2025 and 2026 Primary 1 registration results compiled in our schools dataset; our amenities dataset built from NEA, NParks, MOH, SportSG and MOE data; PropertyInsider.sg matched resale transactions and lodged rental contracts for Piccadilly Grand, Sturdee Residences, City Square Residences and Uptown @ Farrer; our land-sale register and cost model; IRAS and MAS for duties and financing rules. Figures marked (est.) are our estimates and may change at preview. Indicative launch pricing comes from our pricing model and is not developer pricing. Past performance of comparable projects does not predict future results. This page is research, not financial advice. The publisher’s agency is part of the developer’s appointed sales team for Dorset Gardens; that work sits outside the research desk and does not change any figure or verdict here. See our editorial policy.

Page history

• 3 Oct 2026 — Wording pass. Region names now use URA's CCR, RCR and OCR labels, and several phrases were simplified for first-read clarity. No figure, date or source changed.
• 2 Oct 2026 — Official name confirmed: Dorset Gardens. Preliminary details added from the developer’s appointed sales team: 425 homes (was 428), two 28-storey blocks, TOP estimated 2Q 2030 (was ~2031), architect P&T Consultants, builder United Tec Construction. Plot ratio corrected to 3.5 in our data (was 2.8), reconciled against URA’s award figures. Land table widened to every RCR and OCR state site sold since January 2025, and a timing error fixed: Telok Blangah Road closed after Dorset Road, not before. Schools section now shows 2025 and 2026 Phase 2C results for seven schools, including both ACS schools. Rental yield restated from lodged rents at Piccadilly Grand: about 2.5–2.9% gross (est.), replacing the 2.0–2.3% scaled from a district average. Sources now link URA’s tender and award notices. Link to the project’s appointed developer sales website updated to dorset-garden.sg. Indicative range unchanged at $2,840–$3,210 psf.
• 30 Sep 2026 — Estimated breakeven restated on the PropertyInsider.sg cost model, which replaces the third-party cost stack used before: $2,466 psf ppr; indicative range now $2,840–$3,210 psf. Cost lines quoted in the text updated to match.
• 9 Sep 2026 — Plain-English pass. Prose rewritten for shorter sentences and first-read clarity, jargon explained at first use, a short-version summary added before the FAQ, and em dashes removed from body prose. No figure, date, table row, source, link or FAQ answer was changed in substance.
• 20 Aug 2026 — Research read published to the house 13-section standard. Indicative pricing set at $2,830–$3,200 psf from the $2,460 psf ppr breakeven and the 1.15–1.30 margin band; land-cost table built from our own land-sale register; resale cross-check added against Sturdee Residences, Piccadilly Grand, City Square Residences and Uptown @ Farrer on a harmonisation-adjusted basis; school distances and 2025 Phase 2C ballot figures restated from our own dataset; the Farrer Park redevelopment and PLH-eligibility nuance, the Kitchener Link site, rental counter-case, financing, risk cards and verdict added.
• Next scheduled update — the day the price list is released; the indicative range is replaced with actual pricing and stack data at that point.

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