For decades, Singapore’s North has carried a reputation that is difficult to shake. Compared to the bustling East Coast, the established Central districts, and the glamorous Southern waterfront, towns like Woodlands, Kranji, and Sembawang have often been seen as the periphery — functional but uninspiring, transit points rather than destinations.
But at this year’s National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong sketched out a vision that could turn this perception on its head. Drawing on plans laid out in the Draft Master Plan 2025, he described a North that is poised for its most dramatic makeover in decades — anchored by new housing precincts, a reimagined shipyard, and the long-awaited Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link.
The question worth asking is not just what is being built, but why now. Taken together, these projects reveal deeper truths about how Singapore plans its growth: deliberately, patiently, and with an eye towards rebalancing its urban map. If Punggol was the story of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the North could be the defining story of the 2030s and beyond.
Woodlands: From Checkpoint to Gateway
Woodlands has always been synonymous with the Causeway. For many Singaporeans, it was little more than a gateway to Johor Bahru — a place to pass through, not linger. That narrative is shifting.
The upcoming RTS Link, scheduled for completion by 2026, is a gamechanger. Designed to move up to 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction, with immigration cleared at departure points, it promises a smoother, faster commute across the strait. For daily cross-border workers, students, and businesses, this is not just an upgrade in convenience; it is a recalibration of what living near the border means.
The Woodlands Checkpoint, too, is set for a massive expansion — a fivefold enlargement over 15 years, with progressive openings from 2028. The redevelopment will free up bottlenecks, reconfigure the old town centre, and anchor a new identity for Woodlands.
Perhaps most symbolically, the RTS station at Woodlands North will anchor a Multi-Modal Transport Hub (MMTH) within the Woodlands Gateway development — a mixed-use cluster of offices, retail, and housing. Next to it, a new precinct aptly named “Housing by the Woods” will bring about 4,000 homes, adding to the already-launched Woodlands North Verge and Woodlands North Grove BTO projects.
In short: Woodlands is no longer just a checkpoint. It is becoming a true gateway — an urban node where living, working, and commuting intersect.
Kranji: From Racecourse to Residential Renaissance
If Woodlands is about redefining movement, Kranji is about reclaiming land. The closure of the Singapore Turf Club in 2024 marked the end of an era, but also the beginning of a rare opportunity. By March 2027, the 130-hectare racecourse site will be returned to the state, paving the way for about 14,000 new homes.
The numbers are striking. To put it in context, the entire Bishan estate is about 200 hectares. Redeveloping Kranji is akin to building a new town from scratch, on land already served by an MRT station and soon by the Sungei Kadut Interchange, which will connect the North-South Line and Downtown Line by 2035.
What makes Kranji especially interesting is its symbolism. For decades, the racecourse was a single-purpose facility — large, fenced-off, and only alive on race days. Repurposing it into a residential and community hub reflects a broader shift in Singapore’s planning ethos: from mono-use to multi-use, from enclaves to integrated towns. The “Renaissance of Kranji” could serve as a model for future transformations of other large tracts of specialised land.
Sembawang: From Shipyard to Waterfront Lifestyle
Further east, Sembawang is on the cusp of its own rebirth. Long home to a working shipyard, the area will be transformed into a waterfront town three times the size of Ang Mo Kio Town Centre.
Here, the government’s ambition goes beyond housing. The Draft Master Plan outlines two bold proposals — one envisioning a modern mixed-use hub with an industrial wharf character, the other reimagining it as a heritage waterfront town. Both share a commitment to adaptive reuse: preserving the maritime spirit while weaving in new layers of dining, retail, culture, and community life.
The details are imaginative. The 305m King George VI Dock could become a sunken public plaza for sports and recreation. The conserved 1938 Sembawang Fire Station might be repurposed as a community hub. Even the former Naval Workshop could host start-ups, media companies, and artists, blending heritage with creativity.
This approach — keeping the bones of the past while layering on modern life — echoes what has worked at Keppel Bay and Gillman Barracks. But in Sembawang, the scale is larger, the community deeper, and the potential to change perceptions even greater.
The Economic Undercurrent: RTS + JS-SEZ
It would be a mistake to see these projects as isolated urban experiments. They are tied to a bigger story: the Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ).
PM Wong emphasised the “complementary strengths” between both sides of the Causeway. With the RTS in place, it becomes far easier for Malaysian workers employed in Singapore to live closer to the border, potentially boosting demand for housing and rentals in Woodlands and Sembawang. For businesses, flexible industrial spaces near the RTS station create opportunities to leverage lower-cost ecosystems in Johor while staying plugged into Singapore’s financial and legal infrastructure.
In that sense, the North is not just a frontier of urban renewal — it is a frontier of economic integration. Few other regions in Singapore are as directly shaped by cross-border dynamics.
Property Market Ripples
Investors and homeowners alike are already sensing the shift. According to ERA data, median condo prices in the North rose 38.2% between 2020 and mid-2025 — slightly behind the Outside Central Region (42%) but significant given the lower supply base. HDB resale prices in Sembawang and Woodlands, however, surged between 54% and 89% in the same period, outpacing the national index.
Rentals tell an even sharper story. Average rents in the North climbed 82% over five years, beating growth across the OCR.
These figures highlight a timeless property lesson: when areas once seen as peripheral are earmarked for transformation, early movers often capture the greatest upside.
Lessons from Punggol
To drive home his point, PM Wong invoked history. At the 1996 National Day Rally, then-PM Goh Chok Tong unveiled the Punggol 21 vision. At the time, Punggol was a swampy backwater, its potential doubted by many. Today, it is a thriving waterfront town, home to tens of thousands and a showcase of Singapore’s planning prowess.
The parallel is deliberate. Just as Punggol was transformed over two decades, so too will Woodlands, Kranji, and Sembawang. The key is patience. In Singapore, long-term visions are not wish lists; they are roadmaps.
Rebalancing the Urban Map
There is also a bigger philosophical point. For too long, Singapore’s growth narrative has tilted heavily towards the East and Central regions. From Marina Bay to Changi, the south and east have carried much of the glamour. The North, by contrast, was utilitarian — border crossings, shipyards, and dormitory estates.
By investing billions into its renewal, the government is sending a clear message: growth must be rebalanced. New opportunities, amenities, and jobs will not just flow southwards or eastwards, but north as well. This is urban equity at a national scale.
Conclusion: The Northern Renaissance
So what should we make of the North’s revival? It is tempting to see it simply as another cycle of government investment, but that undersells its significance. The transformation of Woodlands, Kranji, and Sembawang is about more than homes, MRT lines, or rental yields. It is about identity.
By the 2040s, the North could cease to be the periphery. It could be the place where cross-border commerce hums, where waterfront towns thrive, where history is preserved even as new lifestyles take root.
And when that happens, Singaporeans may look back at the 2025 Draft Master Plan the way they now look back at Punggol 21: as the start of a renaissance that turned forgotten spaces into living, breathing centres of national life.
As Singapore’s North gears up for its next chapter of growth, opportunities will emerge for discerning homeowners and investors alike. If you’d like to explore what these transformations could mean for your property journey, get in touch with our sales consultants to gain expert guidance.
