Honest Insights On TMW Maxwell

TMW Maxwell is a 324-unit, 99-year leasehold mixed-use development on Tras Street in Tanjong Pagar, District 2, a 0.29km walk from Maxwell MRT, marketed by a CEL Development and SingHaiyi joint venture and completing in 2027. It grades a C (4.8) on our New Project Scorecard (NPS). The more remarkable number is on the balance sheet, not the scorecard: TMW Maxwell launched in August 2023, sold seven units at an average of S$3,310 psf, and today's price list offers 319 of 324 units from S$2,640 psf — an entry roughly 20% below what its first buyers paid. This is an honest look at what the grade says, what the reset means, and who the project now makes sense for. Methodology published. No spin.

The NPS grades a project's district-level fundamentals over a 10-year window — capital appreciation, rental growth, schools, MRT access and project size — from real URA transacted data. It is backward-looking by design: it reflects the district's history, lifted for the project's own size, transport and schools, not a forecast.

The scorecard: what a C actually says

The card splits cleanly in half. Transport and scale are excellent: Maxwell station is a few minutes' walk, the Prince Edward Road station on the Circle Line's final stage sits about 0.18km away and is slated to open in 2026, and 324 units is enough depth for a liquid resale market later. The problem is the growth half. Resale homes within 1km have appreciated at roughly 0.7% a year over the past decade — a same-property resale basis that strips out new-launch price inflation — and even after the model's maximum-tier +1.0 lift for the project's own size, transport and schools, the projected growth is about 1.7% a year — well under the 3% bar. The CBD-fringe resale stock around Tanjong Pagar is dominated by small investor units, and a decade of them changing hands has simply not compounded the way the heartlands have. Rental growth in the prime region (~3.5%/yr) is middling by the same absolute scale, and the one primary school within 1km is undersubscribed, which the model reads as limited family pull.

The 2023 launch — and the reset

TMW Maxwell's own transacted record is short and it is the story. At its August 2023 first phase, the project moved seven units at an average of S$3,310 psf, at quantums between roughly S$1.5 million and S$2.47 million. The URA caveat spine shows six caveats lodged that month at a median of S$3,337 psf (range S$3,143–3,739). Then sales effectively stopped: the developer's June 2026 balance list shows 319 of 324 units available — the entire project, less a handful.

What changed is the price. Today's list starts at S$1.316m for a one-bedroom — S$2,640 psf — with two-bedders from S$2.227m at S$2,833 psf.

Against the project's own record, the reset is unambiguous: today's S$2,640 entry sits 16% below the cheapest caveat lodged in 2023 (S$3,143 psf) and about 21% below the S$3,337 median. A "from" price and a transacted average are not identical measures — the 2023 caveats include higher-floor stock — but there is no reading of these numbers in which the 2026 buyer is not entering meaningfully below the 2023 one. The first seven buyers took the project at a price the market then spent two years declining to pay.

The second benchmark: the Tanjong Pagar pack

The 2023 pricing looks even starker against the neighbours — and the reset makes sense in the same frame.

At S$3,310–3,337, TMW Maxwell was asking more than freehold Sky Everton trades for and was within sight of Wallich Residence — Singapore's tallest condo — for a 99-year mixed-use project on Tras Street. Buyers said no. At S$2,640–2,833, it now sits alongside One Bernam and below the freehold next door, which is where a 99-year product in this micro-market arguably always belonged. The honest read: the reset is not a bargain appearing — it is an outlier returning to the pack.

How long you'd likely hold

On the model, TMW Maxwell's ~1.7% a year projected growth does not clear the 3% bar at any realistic holding period on price growth alone — this is the scorecard telling you plainly that the district's resale history gives no basis to buy this project for appreciation. The case that remains is usage: an own-stay pied-à-terre or a rental unit a few minutes' walk from two MRT lines, the CBD, and the Maxwell food centre, bought at the reset price with a 2027 completion — keys within about a year — and 319 units of choice, which also means the negotiating leverage sits entirely with the buyer. Figures are gross of stamp duty, financing and selling costs.

The honest verdict

TMW Maxwell is two different projects depending on the year you look at it. The 2023 version priced a 99-year CBD-fringe product above the freehold across the road and sold seven units. The 2026 version is priced with its peers, sits nearly untouched at 319 of 324 available, and carries a C (4.8) that is mostly the neighbourhood's own resale history talking — a 0.7%/yr decade that no amount of marketing changes. If you need the scorecard's growth engine, it is not here. If you want a near-complete, station-side CBD address for own-stay or rental — at a price its own history says is the corrected one — the wide-open balance list is the leverage, and the question is quantum and fit, not whether you are paying the 2023 premium. You are not.

See the full scorecard and run your own unit price through the holding-period calculator at tribesg.com/nps.

Sources: NPS quality grade, the five factor scores and projected growth per the TRIBE New Project Scorecard (URA Data Service transacted PSF; 1km resale trend lifted for project size, transport and schools; figures as at July 2026). August 2023 launch take-up (seven units, average S$3,310 psf) as reported at launch coverage; 2023 caveat record per URA caveats (six caveats, August 2023, median S$3,337 psf). Comparable indicative PSF (One Bernam, Sky Everton, Wallich Residence) per SRX and PropertyGuru listings data. Indicative pricing and balance units from the project price list (updated June 2026); availability changes as units sell. Scores are model outputs, not financial advice.

Silas Tan is a District Director at Huttons Asia and co-founder of TRIBE. He built the New Project Scorecard (NPS) and Resale Project Scorecard (RPS) on URA transacted data. This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. CEA Registration R000303I.