28 SHELFORD Review

Condo Review 11 min read Last reviewed

Thirty-two years old, thirty-six units, and an en-bloc score of 66 — rated High on our screen, and among the strongest collective-sale signals you will find on the Bukit Timah fringe. 28 Shelford is the kind of property that rarely makes headlines: a low-rise 1994 completion by Region Development Pte Ltd, tucked into Shelford Road in District 11, transacting perhaps a couple of times a year while newer neighbours hog the launch-weekend coverage.

Yet the arithmetic is intriguing. Recorded sales here average about S$2,004,667 at roughly S$1,990 per square foot (as of 2025-12) — while Pullman Residences Newton, ten minutes up the road, averages S$3,074 psf and Watten House commands S$3,236 psf on an average quantum of S$5.74 million. That is a discount of more than a third against the area's new-build benchmark.

The question this review answers is whether that gap is a bargain or a fair reflection of a 99-year lease with roughly 67 years left on the clock — because in this corner of the market, the lease is the whole conversation.

28 Shelford occupies the Core Central Region's quieter academic belt, in District 11's Newton–Novena–Bukit Timah corridor. Its average PSF of about S$1,990 places it around the 67th percentile of the district (as of 2025-12), positioned well below freehold new builds like Pullman Residences Newton (S$3,074 psf), Peak Residence (S$2,489 psf) and Watten House (S$3,236 psf), and roughly level with older 99-year peers such as Soleil @ Sinaran (S$1,975 psf) and Amaryllis Ville (S$1,909 psf). It is, in effect, the value end of a prestige postcode — the price of admission being building age and lease runway.

District 11 · Completed 1994
~$2,000Avg PSF (12-month)
2.3%Rental yield
36Total units
Category Ratings
Walkability
5.0
Investment
5.5
En-Bloc Potential
6.6
ShiokNest Score
6.1

Overview & Key Facts

28 SHELFORD is a condominium at SHELFORD ROAD in District 11 (CCR), developed by REGION DEVELOPMENT PTE LTD, comprising 36 units, completed in 1994.

Developer
REGION DEVELOPMENT PTE LTD
Tenure
Total units
36
TOP year
1994
District
11 — CCR
Street
SHELFORD ROAD
Lease remaining
~67 years (of 99)

Location & Connectivity

28 SHELFORD is approximately 680m from Tan Kah Kee MRT station, with 4 stations within 1.5 km.

MRT stations near 28 SHELFORD
StationLineDistance
Tan Kah KeeDowntown Line680m
Botanic GardensCircle Line840m
Botanic GardensDowntown Line840m
Farrer RoadCircle Line1.4 km

Schools & Education

11 schools within 2 km (5 within 1 km priority zone).

Schools near 28 SHELFORD
SchoolTypeDistance
Chatsworth International School (Bukit Timah)International590m
National Junior CollegeSecondary660m
National Junior CollegeJc660m
German European School SingaporeInternational850m
SJI International SchoolInternational950m
Hollandse SchoolInternational1.2 km
Raffles Girls' Primary SchoolPrimary1.3 km
Lycee Francais de SingapourInternational1.4 km

Unit Mix & Pricing

Unit mix for 28 SHELFORD
TypeSalesAvg PSFAvg Price
2 BR3$1,979 psf$1,626,667
3 BR3$2,000 psf$2,382,667

Market Position

28 SHELFORD has recorded 6 sales at an average price of $2,004,667.

Ranks in the top 33% of condos in District 11 by average PSF.

$2,000 psf
Avg PSF (12mo)
$2,004,667
Avg Price
2.3%
Gross Yield
6
Total Sales

Price Appreciation

PSF trend for 28 SHELFORD
YearSalesAvg PSFYoY
20221$1,870 psf
20242$2,033 psf↑ 8.7%
20253$2,000 psf↓ 1.6%

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The series remains near its 2024 high — 28 SHELFORD prices sit 7.0% above where they began in 2022.


Neighbourhood Comparison

District 11 competitors
CondoTenureAvg PSFSales
PULLMAN RESIDENCES NEWTONFreehold$3,074 psf288
WATTEN HOUSEFreehold$3,236 psf180
SOLEIL @ SINARAN99 yrs lease commencing from 2006$1,975 psf95
PEAK RESIDENCEFreehold$2,489 psf90
AMARYLLIS VILLE99 yrs lease commencing from 1997$1,909 psf74

Lease Analysis

With 67 years remaining on its 99-year lease, 28 SHELFORD still qualifies for full bank financing and CPF usage.

What Could Work Against You

  • With just 2 sales in the trailing year, pricing signals are indicative rather than definitive; expect wider bid-ask spreads when you negotiate.
  • The 36-unit size cuts both ways: exclusivity, but thinner resale liquidity and higher per-unit maintenance contributions than larger estates.
  • At 32+ years of age, upkeep costs trend upward and renovation budgets matter; some owners here are effectively holding an en-bloc option.

Who This Actually Suits

The profile fits international school families, long-term hold (10+ yr), en-bloc speculators and boutique low-density (<100 units) best. Reasonable access to one or more international school clusters via car or school bus.

For car-owning households, yield-focused investors and foreign / absd-aware buyers, it can work — but weigh the trade-offs before committing.

resort facilities should probably look elsewhere. Resort-grade amenity stack including multiple pools, clubhouse, and recreational facilities.

One caution flagged here: avoid if mrt-dependent — MRT access is meaningfully constrained — transit-dependent buyers should consider better-connected alternatives.

The education belt is the first thing agents will mention, and rightly so. Within a 1.4km radius the digest of nearby institutions reads like a relocation consultant's checklist: Chatsworth International School at 0.59km, National Junior College at 0.66km, the German European School Singapore at 0.85km, SJI International at 0.95km, Raffles Girls' Primary School at 1.31km and the Lycee Francais de Singapour at 1.37km. For families paying international school fees, proximity on this scale is a genuine cost-of-living lever — and the Hollandse School at 1.16km extends the list further for Dutch-speaking households. Local-stream families are equally served, with National Junior College covering both secondary and JC years from a single campus two-thirds of a kilometre away.

Connectivity is better than the leafy setting implies. Tan Kah Kee station on the Downtown Line sits about 0.68km away, the Botanic Gardens interchange — where the Downtown and Circle Lines meet — is roughly 0.84km, and Farrer Road on the Circle Line adds a third option at about 1.41km. Check the door-to-door commute against your own workplace using our commute time map before assuming a car is compulsory.

Then there is the en-bloc case. Our score of 66 (High) rests on concrete inputs: a 32-year-old building scoring 24 of 30 on age, a compact 36-unit register scoring the maximum 20, and a full 15 of 15 for the CCR location. Small owner pools reach the 80% consensus threshold far more easily than mega-developments, and this site sits in an en-bloc-active cluster.

Finally, the running numbers are respectable for a holding play. Fifty-seven lease contracts average S$3,911 a month within a S$2,350–S$5,800 band, three-bedders transacted at an average of S$2,382,667 in 2025, and PSF has firmed from S$1,870 in 2022 to around S$2,000–S$2,033 across 2024 and 2025 (as of 2025-12). At an average quantum of about S$2.0 million, entry is achievable for upgraders — sanity-check the numbers with our affordability calculator before viewing.

The lease is the dominant risk, and it deserves blunt treatment. With roughly 67 years remaining on the original 99-year term (as of 2025-12), 28 Shelford is inside the band where financing and CPF rules begin to bite: CPF usage limits tighten as remaining lease shortens relative to a buyer's age, so younger purchasers should verify their position against the prevailing rules on the CPF Board's official site, and model the value trajectory with our lease decay calculator. If the en-bloc never materialises, this is a depreciating land lease dressed in prime-district clothing.

Income will not rescue the maths either. The gross yield works out to roughly 2.34% — soft even by CCR standards — so the holding cost between now and any collective-sale payday is real. Liquidity compounds the issue: six recorded resales in total, and just two in the twelve months to December 2025, mean both entry and exit pricing rely on a handful of comparables.

Practical wrinkles round out the list. A 1994-vintage building implies renovation and maintenance spending that newer rivals avoid. The walkability score of 50 reflects genuine gaps — the nearest mall, park and supermarket all register beyond 3.1km, so daily life here is car-shaped. And the amenity stack is thin for the price point: buyers expecting resort-grade facilities will not find them in a 36-unit low-rise. To be fair, the immediate necessities fare better than the headline score suggests — a clinic registers at just 314m and hawker food at about 620m — but the weekly shop and the mall run remain firmly car-dependent. En-bloc optionality, in short, is a lottery ticket with a real annual carrying cost, and the two-bedder tier — averaging S$1,626,667 across three recorded sales — is where that carrying cost bites hardest relative to what newer projects offer at similar money.

  • ✅ International school families
  • ✅ En-bloc speculators
  • ✅ Long-term hold (10+ yr)
  • ✅ Boutique low-density (<100 units)
  • ⚠️ Foreign / ABSD-aware buyers
  • ❌ Resort facilities

28 Shelford is a specialist's buy. The pitch is straightforward: a District 11 address at S$1,990 psf — more than a third below the area's freehold new-build benchmark (as of 2025-12) — carrying a genuine, data-backed en-bloc option on a 36-unit site. For a buyer who understands collective-sale mechanics and can hold patiently, the asymmetry is interesting: rental income of around S$3,911 a month on average defrays the wait, and the school belt keeps tenant demand structural.

Shortlist it if you are an en-bloc-literate investor, or an international-school family planning a seven-to-ten-year residence who values location over facilities. Avoid it if you need yield above the mid-2s, resort amenities, or a clean exit at short notice — two transactions a year is not a liquid market. Compare it directly against Soleil @ Sinaran and Amaryllis Ville with our side-by-side comparison tool to price the lease difference explicitly.

On holding period: think in lease terms, not market cycles. Every year without a collective sale is a year of decay on a 67-year balance — so size the position as a calculated speculation, not a core family asset.

FAQ

What is the average PSF for 28 SHELFORD?
The 12-month average is approximately $2,000 psf.
Is 28 SHELFORD freehold?
28 SHELFORD has a tenure with ~67 years remaining.
What is the rental yield for 28 SHELFORD?
The estimated gross yield is 2.3%.
Which MRT is nearest to 28 SHELFORD?
The nearest is Tan Kah Kee MRT at 680m.

Sources & Next Steps

Methodology & Sources

This analysis covers All available years and refreshes as new data becomes available.

Transaction data sourced from URA REALIS.

  • Sales data: 6 transactions
  • Rental data: 57 leases
  • Source: URA REALIS

Median values used to minimise outlier impact. PSF = price per square foot.

Data as of December 2025

Latest recorded data point: Dec 2025 · 6 records analysed · Source: URA private-sale caveats

Price Index Check

The ShiokNest Price Index for District 11 reads 121.2 as of June 2026 — up 1.7% year-on-year. The index tracks repeat-sales price movement, so it is less distorted by shifts in what happens to be transacting than a raw average PSF.

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Rental Yield by Bedroom Type

Blended yield hides the spread between unit sizes — smaller units at 28 SHELFORD typically rent harder per dollar of purchase price:

Per-bedroom gross yield at 28 SHELFORD
TypeAvg RentAvg PriceGross Yield
2 BR$3,763/mo$1,626,6672.78%
3 BR$4,207/mo$2,382,6672.12%

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HDB Alternatives Nearby

Weighing 28 SHELFORD against staying public? These HDB towns sit within walking or short-drive distance:

  • Bukit Timah — 4-room average $846,049 (720m away), an upgrader gap of about $1,150,000
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