Bencoolen MRT: living above Singapore's deepest station
Updated 2026-10-01
Bencoolen is a small residential pocket wedged between an arts campus, a university and the Bugis shopping belt, served by the deepest MRT station in Singapore. Hombble currently tracks 17 condominium listings here at an average asking price of S$1,803,706. This is what the housing stock, transport and surrounding plans actually look like.
What is it like living around Bencoolen?
Living at Bencoolen means living inside the Downtown Core rather than beside it. The station sits at 31 Bencoolen Street in the Rochor and Bras Basah area of District 7, where Singapore Management University, the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, the School of the Arts, the Singapore Art Museum and the National Museum of Singapore are all within the immediate walking catchment.
The practical effect is a street life driven by students, office workers and museum visitors rather than by families. Shops, places of worship and food centres sit at ground level, and most residential blocks here are slim towers squeezed between them. Buyers who want quiet and greenery will find little of it. Buyers who want to delete the commute entirely will find the trade works in their favour.
What is 180A Bencoolen Street?
180A Bencoolen Street, postal code 189647, is the address of The Bencoolen, a 99-year leasehold condominium completed in 1998 with 94 units across a maximum of 19 storeys. Facilities inside the building include a swimming pool, a tennis court, a gymnasium, a barbecue area and a residents' lounge, and Sim Lim Square sits directly opposite.
It is one of a handful of residential addresses on this street. Burlington Square is the other main condominium block, while Sunshine Plaza at 91 Bencoolen Street is a mixed development with a strong commercial component. All are 99-year leasehold, which matters more here than in a freehold district, because remaining lease drives a large part of the pricing spread.
Is Bencoolen MRT well connected?
Bencoolen is DT21 on the Downtown Line, opened on 21 October 2017 as part of Downtown Line 3, sitting between Fort Canning and Jalan Besar. Exit C leads into an underground public walkway through Singapore Management University that links to Bras Basah on the Circle Line, so two lines are reachable without walking above ground.
The station is 43 metres below street level, the deepest in Singapore, a record it holds until the Cross Island Line station at Pasir Ris opens at 47 metres. Expect a long ride up. Buses are heavy at the Bras Basah Road junction exit, with services including 7, 14, 16, 36, 77, 106, 111, 124, 167, 174, 175 and 190, and a second cluster at the Bencoolen Street exit covering 64, 65, 131, 139, 147, 166 and 857.
Housing stock and asking prices
Hombble is tracking 17 live listings around Bencoolen, all of them condominium units, averaging 876 sqft at an average asking price of S$1,803,706, or S$2,181 psf. There are no landed homes and no HDB resale flats in this listing set, which tells you most of what you need to know about the supply.
Recorded transactions at the older blocks sit below that average. Sale prices at The Bencoolen over the trailing twelve months ranged from S$1,579 psf to S$1,724 psf, averaging S$1,662 psf, with the highest recorded deal at S$1,724 psf in June 2026 for a 1,044 sqft unit. Burlington Square has transacted across a wider band of roughly S$1,248 to S$1,869 psf, with absolute prices from about S$1.2 million to S$3.79 million.
The gap between the S$2,181 psf average asking level and what the 1990s blocks actually fetch is a mix effect, not a price jump. Newer and smaller stock in the wider catchment pulls the asking average up. Sellers in the older blocks should price against recent transactions in their own development, not against the catchment headline.
Amenities and schools
Daily needs are covered on foot. Albert Centre Market and Food Centre at 270 Queen Street has a wet market on the ground floor and hawker stalls above. Bras Basah Complex at 231 Bain Street is the country's densest concentration of second-hand books, art supplies and educational materials, with the National Library at 100 Victoria Street next door. Bugis Junction, Bugis+, Sim Lim Square and the Albert Street market stalls handle retail and groceries.
For schools, listing data for The Bencoolen places Stamford Primary School roughly 500 metres away, St Margaret's Primary School about 830 metres away and Farrer Park Primary School about 1.23 kilometres away. St Joseph's Institution, Anglo-Chinese School Junior and River Valley Primary are also in the broader area. Parents should verify the exact one kilometre and two kilometre distances for a specific unit through MOE and OneMap before relying on them, as these are measured door to door.
What is next for the area
Bencoolen sits at the western edge of a precinct the Urban Redevelopment Authority has been rebuilding for two decades. Bugis is one of eight subzones within the Downtown Core planning area, and the current round of work includes Guoco Midtown, Midtown Modern, The M on Middle Road with 522 units, and the redevelopment of Shaw Tower into a mixed-use building with about 435,000 sq ft of Grade A office space and 15,700 sq ft of retail.
Further out, the Beach Road site is being built as a S$2.4 billion mixed-use development with around 770,000 sq ft of Grade A office space, an 80,000 sq ft business and lifestyle hub and more than 30,000 sq ft of retail. Golden Mile Complex has been sold collectively, and the 8.2 hectare Kampong Bugis white site is planned over a nine to eleven year horizon.
On the residential side, the former Peace Centre and Peace Mansion site is becoming The Collective at One Sophia, a 367-unit 99-year leasehold project within walking reach of Bencoolen station, with indicative pricing in the S$2,699 to S$2,895 psf range and completion expected in 2029. That is a useful benchmark for owners here. New stock within walking distance is being priced well above the 1990s blocks, which supports rental demand and sets a visible ceiling on what older leasehold units can ask.