Market insight · 12 August 2026 · 7 min read

Should you still pay for central? What Bayshore, Turf City and Berlayar change for owners

Almost every owner I meet asks a version of the same question: is a central address still worth paying up for? For years the honest answer was yes. It is now more complicated. Connectivity keeps improving island-wide, and several precincts maturing under URA's Master Plan offer upside that used to sit only inside the Core Central Region.

Singapore public and private housing, illustrating the emerging Bayshore, Turf City and Berlayar precincts

Three names keep surfacing in that conversation: Bayshore, Bukit Timah Turf City and Berlayar at Keppel. Each sells a different kind of life, but they lean on the same four ingredients — transport links, planned amenities, community infrastructure and job creation in innovation sectors. Below is what each one actually is, and the line I give owners when they ask what it means for them.

Bayshore — is a park-and-sea address the new prime?

URA Master Plan map of the upcoming Bayshore precinct with HDB flats, private GLS sites, amenities and two Thomson-East Coast Line stations — The upcoming Bayshore precinct with masterplanned HDB flats, private GLS sites, amenities and two TEL stations. Source: ERA Singapore.

Bayshore is planned to sit right next to East Coast Park, with two Thomson-East Coast Line stations, an integrated transport hub, a central park, a school, a transit priority corridor and a community loop.

Because the plan carries both HDB flats and private GLS sites, the buyer pool is wide from the first launch. The pitch is not proximity to Orchard Road — it is that daily life and weekend life sit on the same doorstep.

What this means for you: If you own in the East, Bayshore is your future competition and your future comparable. Both matter when you price.

Turf City — what happens when HDB returns to Bukit Timah?

Plan of Bukit Timah Turf City, a new public and private housing neighbourhood on the former racecourse site — Bukit Timah Turf City will introduce a new public and private housing neighbourhood in the heart of the district. Source: ERA Singapore.

The old racecourse site is being turned into a housing estate threaded with greenery and heritage, inside a low-density enclave that already has a reputation.

It brings the first HDB flats to Bukit Timah in more than 40 years, next to non-landed 99-year leasehold private projects. Scarcity and character do the heavy lifting here, and buyers have shown they will pay for that even when the address is not classic Core Central Region.

What this means for you: Character is priceable. If your home has a story — a view, a heritage street, a quiet enclave — market that story, do not bury it.

Berlayar — can 10,000 new homes reset the city fringe?

Plan of the future Berlayar precinct on the former Keppel Golf Course, with private and public housing and waterfront views — The former Keppel Golf Course makes way for the Berlayar precinct, with private and public housing and waterfront views. Source: ERA Singapore.

Around 10,000 public and private homes are planned across the former Keppel Golf Course, near HarbourFront and Sentosa.

Berlayar puts a coastal setting next to city-fringe access, with a serious mix of HDB and private stock, all sitting inside the wider Greater Southern Waterfront plan. You get lifestyle you can use now and a transformation story that runs for decades.

What this means for you: Supply of that size reshapes a sub-market. Owners nearby should watch the launch calendar before choosing a listing window.

Why do younger buyers keep picking the fringe?

Once the travel-time gap between towns narrows, accessibility stops being the tie-breaker and identity takes over. Landscape, heritage, lifestyle, the feel of a neighbourhood on a Sunday morning — those are now the things that move desirability, and with it pricing power.

Chart from ERA's 2025 My Dream Home survey showing where respondents see themselves staying in the next five years, led by the West at 21% and the East at 18% — ERA 2025 My Dream Home survey: where respondents see themselves staying in the next five years. Source: ERA Singapore.

The survey pointed Gen Z and millennial respondents towards the West's Jurong Lake District and Tengah, Bayshore in the East, and Punggol and Hougang-Defu in the North-East. Future potential, community and lifestyle fit beat the old instinct to buy as central as possible.

Are million-dollar flats still a mature-estate story?

Less than they used to be. The HDB resale data is the cleanest evidence I can show an owner. Million-dollar deals used to cluster in Queenstown, Toa Payoh and Bishan, where buyers paid for mature amenities and a central or city-fringe address. Since 2022 non-mature towns have taken a growing slice, helped by more flats hitting MOP and landing in the resale pool.

Chart showing non-mature towns making up a growing share of million-dollar HDB flat transactions islandwide — Non-mature million-dollar flats are making up a greater portion of million-dollar flat transactions islandwide. Source: HDB as at 10 July 2026, ERA Research and Market Intelligence.

2022

6.0%

of million-dollar flat transactions were in non-mature towns

2025

8.7%

of million-dollar flat transactions were in non-mature towns

Mature estates still dominate in absolute numbers, so do not read this as a flip. Read it as proof that buyers will pay top dollar outside the centre when the flat and the precinct fit the life they are planning.

So what should you do with your own home?

Sellers in mature estates: your pricing power is still real, but it is no longer automatic. Buyers now compare your flat or condo against emerging precincts with newer stock and a clearer future story. Presentation, marketing reach and an accurate price band matter more than they did five years ago — that is the whole argument behind the modern selling approach.
Owners in non-mature towns: the million-dollar spread is your tailwind. If your flat is at or near MOP, timing the resale window against the supply coming into your town is the single biggest lever on your final price. Start with a proper HDB valuation and CPF proceeds breakdown.
Upgraders: buying into a precinct before it fully matures can work well for owner-occupiers, provided you accept short-term trade-offs in amenities and vibrancy. Sequence the sale and the purchase so you are never exposed on housing or financing — the same discipline applies to a condo or EC purchase.
Investors: not every emerging precinct will deliver rental demand or resale liquidity. Prioritise demand depth, rental resilience and credible transformation drivers over the novelty of a new address.

Is central finished? No — but it is no longer the only benchmark

Central stays prime. The locational attributes and mature communities are not going anywhere. What changed is that they stopped being the only reference point, and the conversation moved towards practicality, identity and how a place will knit together over the next decade.

Premiums are getting personal. Convenience, being near family, greenery, amenities, long-term upside — each one is worth a different amount to a different buyer. The emerging precincts that win will be the ones balancing access, a real sense of place and credible long-term potential, sitting alongside established addresses instead of replacing them. My job, when I price your home, is to work out which of those premiums your buyer is actually paying for.

Source material: ERA Research and Market Intelligence. Commentary and interpretation by Kaeden Ong 王天财.

Disclaimer: this information is provided on a goodwill basis and does not relieve you of the responsibility to verify it with the relevant sources, or to seek advice from professionals such as valuers, financial advisers, bankers and lawyers.

Wondering what this means for your own home?

Kaeden Ong 王天财, Associate Division Director at ERA Singapore and a top 1% achiever, will prepare a free valuation for your HDB, condo or landed home — with the CPF refund and net cash proceeds spelled out before you decide anything.

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