These Are Our Top 5 Condos in Queenstown & Tiong Bahru

Queenstown and Tiong Bahru sit in District 3, a strip of the Rest of Central Region that buyers treat as almost-prime — walking distance to the CBD, ringed by good primary schools, and threaded by three MRT lines. It is also one of the most expensive resale markets outside the core, which makes the choice between projects expensive to get wrong. So we did what the Resale Project Scorecard (RPS) is built for: ranked every resale condo in the district on the same evidence, and let the data pick the top five.

The RPS scores each project from 126,000-plus URA REALIS transactions across seven factors — primary-school catchment, capital appreciation, rental yield, MRT access, future-transformation upside, project size, and tenure — each marked out of 10, rolled into one score and a letter grade from S to D. Methodology published, no spin. Of the 39 ranked projects in District 3, ten earn the top S grade. These are the five that score highest.

1. Artra — 8.04, grade S

Artra tops the district on the strength of the two things that matter most to a resale buyer: getting to work and getting capital back. The scorecard logs it 60m from Redhill MRT (EW18) — direct, walk-in access — and an average annual capital appreciation of +4.29%, in the top quartile of its 2020-era cohort (84th percentile). Rental yield is a strong 4.12%. Its one soft spot is future-transformation exposure: the nearest catalyst, the Greater Southern Waterfront's Telok Blangah precinct, is 2.44km away, far enough that the RPS scores the upside as modest. For a 99-year project with about 89 years left and an active 400-unit resale market, that is a minor quibble against a genuinely complete profile.

2. The Regency @ Tiong Bahru — 7.98, grade S

The Regency is the freehold play, and the scorecard rewards it for exactly that. It posts a perfect mark on schools — three primary schools within 1km, nearest Zhangde Primary at 0.57km — and exceptional appreciation: an average annual +4.58%, top 1% of its 2010-era cohort. Freehold tenure removes any lease-decay question. The trade-offs are honest ones the RPS flags plainly: at 158 units it is a boutique block with lower transaction frequency and limited facilities, and rental yield is a below-average 3.00%. This is a hold-for-the-long-term, school-catchment buy, not an income play.

3. Riviere — 7.92, grade S

Riviere is the newest of the five (TOP 2023) and the one with a forward story. The scorecard gives it the district's strongest future-transformation read of the group — 280m from Great World MRT (TE15), with the Thomson-East Coast Line pipeline scored as "tangible neighbourhood-level upside." It also anchors a 2km of riverfront on freehold-adjacent prestige; the land it sits on was the 2017 Jiak Kim Street record bid, which is part of why the new-sale benchmark here is so high. School access is exceptional (Temasek Primary at 0.29km) and yield a respectable 3.60%. At a 455-unit, 99-year project with 91 years remaining, Riviere is the pick for a buyer who wants newness and a catalyst rather than the lowest entry price.

4. Twin Regency — 7.83, grade S

Twin Regency is the second freehold entry and scores on transport and tenure: 200m from Tiong Bahru MRT (EW17) and freehold, with appreciation in the top quartile of its 2007 cohort (+4.61%, 89th percentile). Like its neighbour The Regency, the weaknesses are total returns — yield is a below-average 3.14% — and limited future-catalyst exposure. The RPS is consistent about Tiong Bahru's freehold blocks: you are buying durability and location, not yield.

5. Central Green — 7.80, grade S

Central Green rounds out the five and is the standout for families. It records seven primary schools within 1km — the densest catchment of any project here, with Zhangde Primary just 0.20km away — and the closest MRT of the lot, 100m from Tiong Bahru MRT. The honest caveat the scorecard surfaces is lease: as a 1995 project it has about 65 years remaining, "some long-term decay exposure but not imminent." For a young family that values walk-to-school and walk-to-MRT over a fresh 99-year lease, Central Green is the value entry into the district.

What they share — and what to watch

Run the five side by side and a pattern emerges.

Every one of them scores on transport — none is more than a few hundred metres from a station — and most score on schools. The recurring weakness across the district is future-transformation upside: District 3 is already built out, so the RPS finds little of the catalyst-driven uplift you see in, say, the Greater Southern Waterfront fringe or around new CRL interchanges. That is not a flaw so much as a feature: you are buying a mature, proven location, and the price already reflects it. The honorable mention just outside the five, Stirling Residences (7.70, S), makes the same case at scale — 1,259 units, +4.57% appreciation in the top 10% of its 2022 cohort, and 280m from Queenstown MRT.

The decision inside this list is not "which is best" — all five are S-grade — but which trade-off you are buying. Freehold durability and schools (the two Tiong Bahru blocks), newness and a transit catalyst (Riviere), the most complete all-round profile (Artra), or the deepest school catchment at the lowest lease (Central Green). Price the lease, the yield, and the school you actually need against your own horizon, and let the scorecard — not the showflat — frame the shortlist.

See the full ranking and every project's scorecard at tribesg.com/rps.

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Sources: TRIBE Resale Project Scorecard (126,000+ URA REALIS transactions; scores and reasons as at June 2026). Scores and grades are model outputs, not investment advice.

Silas Tan is a District Director at Huttons Asia and co-founder of TRIBE. He built the Resale Project Scorecard (RPS) using 126,000+ URA REALIS transactions. This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. CEA Registration R000303I.