Tan Kah Kee: Bukit Timah Living on the Downtown Line
Updated 2026-10-22
Tan Kah Kee MRT sits at the heart of the Bukit Timah education belt, surrounded by landed homes, low-rise condominiums and some of Singapore's most sought-after schools. With 255 live listings averaging S$12.1 million and the Turf City transformation under way nearby, this is a neighbourhood shaped by heritage, greenery and long-term value.
What is it like living near Tan Kah Kee MRT?
Tan Kah Kee is a quiet, leafy stretch of upper Bukit Timah Road in District 10, defined more by its schools and established residential streets than by commercial activity. The MRT station (DT8) sits underground, directly beneath the Hwa Chong Institution campus, and daily life here revolves around the low-rise neighbourhood rather than any single mall or town centre.
Exit A opens onto Bukit Timah Road, where Coronation Shopping Plaza and the adjoining Crown Centre and King's Arcade offer everyday retail, bakeries and casual dining. Exit B faces Dunearn Road and the tree-lined residential streets behind it. For a wider selection, Serene Centre and Cluny Court are a short walk south towards Botanic Gardens, and the recently refreshed Beauty World precinct is two stops north on the Downtown Line.
Dining leans local and unpretentious. Adam Road Food Centre, one of Singapore's better-known hawker centres, is roughly a ten-minute walk east. Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre sits further along Bukit Timah Road. The cafes clustered around Coronation Plaza and Serene Centre cater to the school-run crowd and weekend brunch trade.
How does Tan Kah Kee connect to the rest of Singapore?
The Downtown Line runs from Bukit Panjang to Expo, giving Tan Kah Kee a direct, no-transfer ride to Botanic Gardens (one stop), Newton (three stops), Bugis (seven stops) and the full Marina Bay stretch. A commute to the CBD takes roughly 20 minutes.
Bus coverage is strong. Stops on both Bukit Timah Road and Dunearn Road serve routes 67, 74, 151, 154, 156, 157, 170, 174, 852 and 961, connecting to Jurong East, Bishan, Toa Payoh and the Woodlands corridor. Drivers reach the PIE and BKE within minutes via Dunearn Road.
Looking ahead, the URA Master Plan 2025 earmarks road widening along Dunearn Road and Bukit Timah Road as part of the Turf City redevelopment. A new Turf City MRT station and bus interchange will add another Downtown Line stop to the immediate area, further shortening journeys north.
What kind of house can you buy near Tan Kah Kee?
The housing stock here splits almost evenly between landed property and condominiums. Of the 255 listings currently on Hombble, 149 are landed homes and 106 are condos. The average asking price is S$12,095,042, the average unit size is 4,622 square feet, and the average asking rate is S$2,626 per square foot.
That headline price reflects the landed-heavy mix. District 10 landed homes, including semi-detached houses, bungalows and Good Class Bungalows along roads like Namly Avenue and Linden Drive, account for the bulk of value. Condominiums in the area tend to be older, low-rise freehold developments rather than new launches, which keeps the neighbourhood's character low-density and green.
Freehold tenure is the norm in this part of Bukit Timah. For buyers searching for a tan kah kee house, the realistic range runs from mid-single-digit millions for a terrace or semi-detached home up to well above S$20 million for a bungalow on a generous plot.
Schools in the Tan Kah Kee belt
The concentration of well-known schools is the single biggest draw for families buying here. Hwa Chong Institution sits directly above the MRT station. Nanyang Girls' High School is next door. Raffles Girls' Primary School and National Junior College are both within walking distance. Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School and Methodist Girls' School are also in the wider Bukit Timah corridor.
For parents prioritising primary school distance balloting, a home within one kilometre of Raffles Girls' Primary or Nanyang Primary carries a measurable advantage at Phase 2C. That proximity is already priced into the landed stock closest to the school gates, and it is one reason turnover on those streets stays low.
Outlook: Turf City and what comes next
The biggest change on the horizon is the Turf City transformation. Under the URA Master Plan 2025, the former racecourse site along Dunearn Road will be redeveloped into a mixed-use estate of 15,000 to 20,000 public and private homes. BTO flats will be offered in Bukit Timah for the first time in nearly 40 years. The first residential site was sold in mid-2025 to a Frasers Property-led consortium for S$491.45 million, yielding about 380 private homes.
For existing owners near Tan Kah Kee, Turf City introduces new amenities, a second MRT station and improved roads, all of which tend to support values in established landed enclaves. For buyers, it means the broader Bukit Timah corridor will see fresh supply for the first time in decades, though the landed streets closest to Tan Kah Kee MRT are already built out and unlikely to see significant new stock.
District 10 new freehold condo prices have risen steadily, with average transacted prices reaching around S$4,224 per square foot in early 2026, up from S$2,285 per square foot a decade earlier. Resale volume has held firm through successive rounds of cooling measures, suggesting that most buyers in this area are purchasing to live rather than to speculate.