Inside One of Orchard’s Rarest Freehold Enclaves: Conserved Homes You Can Still Buy From $6.8M

I’ve always admired the conservation houses on Emerald Hill Road but figured that they would be too unaffordable: it’s prime location + conservation. Also, it may be too noisy for most people, because of the bars and restaurants at the start of the road.

However, a good friend’s good friend lives here and told me that it’s actually pretty quiet. This got me intrigued enough to research the area, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that prices were nowhere near as stratospheric as I had imagined they would be. Now I’m not suggesting that $6.8 million is cheap but given that these days, it seems almost-any-old terrace house in almost-any-old part of Singapore is asking for that much, a conservation house in the heart of Singapore seems almost affordable at that price. As always, there is a catch, but let’s look at the sales transactions here first.

I remembered prices being higher when I visited the conservation properties at Cairnhill so did a quick counter check. Indeed some of the units there did go for more (up to $18 million,) but if you look at the fine print, it’s because the units sold there were larger: from 3,000 + sq ft. vs 2,000+ sq ft. for Emerald Hill Road. And, of course, there are other factors which vary from unit to unit to consider too, such as the condition of the houses etc.

When I visited PropertyGuru, there was a unit for sale at $6.88 million on Emerald Hill Road. The “low” price made me do a double take but then I realised that the land size was only 1,043 sq ft. That is on the smaller side for landed houses, even in Singapore. Thanks to the high ceilings, I must say that the interiors look rather spacious in the photos though.

These are some of the commercial units at the beginning of Emerald Hill Road. Even in the afternoon, most of the bars and restaurants had a good crowd, so I had to carefully pick shots which wouldn’t get strangers in the frame. They weren’t very noisy but the friend I was with who lives in a landed property did mention that she found the street on the less-quiet side. I personally thought noise levels were okay at the time of visiting, especially in comparison to some of the other landed enclaves I’ve been to.

The turn in from Orchard Road is pedestrianised, so cars can’t turn in from Orchard Road. If you drive, you will need to turn off Cairnhill Road, onto Emerald Link and then on to Emerald Hill Road. See the blue line in the Google Map screenshot below- there’s also a different route via Hullet Road, where you can find a URA car park. More on this later.

Now that we’ve seen the whole street, let me know what you think in the comments!