Dunearn House Just Had An Exit Strategy Shift — It Now Sits Inside 2km Of Nanyang, RGPS And MGS

On 10 September 2026, the Ministry of Education announced that from the 2027 registration exercise, Phase 2C at 12 primary schools will run on two tracks. Thirty places go to children living within 2km of the school and 30 to children living beyond it, with no home-school distance priority inside either track. In late July, Dunearn House had sold 212 of its 380 homes on its launch weekend at an average of $3,140 psf. Four of the 12 schools sit within 2km of the site. None sits within 1km.

That position was a weakness in July. If you booked a family unit there, the new rule changes it. A Bukit Timah address at 1.4km from Raffles Girls' Primary entered a Phase 2C ballot behind every 1km address. From the 2027 exercise it enters level with them. The same rule reaches Katong, where The Continuum's 816 freehold homes fall within 2km of three of the 12: Tanjong Katong Primary inside 1km, Tao Nan and CHIJ (Katong) Primary in the 1 to 2km ring. OneMap already has an answer for The Continuum. Dunearn House has to be measured, because its building outline is not in the dataset yet.

What did MOE change on 10 September 2026?

Two things change from the 2027 Primary 1 registration exercise, which places children starting school in 2028. First, every school with at least 180 Primary 1 places reserves 60 places for Phase 2C, up from 40. Phase 2C is the phase for children with no prior link to the school. If your child has no sibling there, no alumni parent and no parent volunteer, this is your phase. Phase 2B stays at 20 reserved places, and Phases 2A and 2B keep their priority ahead of 2C.

Second, at 12 schools the 60 places split into two tracks of 30. One track is for children living within 2km, the other for children living beyond 2km. If either track has more citizen applicants than places, it ballots, and MOE has said there is no further home-school distance priority within a track, as reported by AsiaOne. Any shortfall on one side flows to the other. The 12 were chosen because public housing makes up less than 40 per cent of homes within 2km of each. MOE's reasoning, in its own words: "For schools located in neighbourhoods with significantly less public housing than the national average, applying the current home-school distance priority may not substantially broaden access for children from different socio-economic backgrounds."

Here are the 12, with this year's Phase 2C places and applicants, from MOE's 2026 vacancies and balloting data as recorded on day three of the phase. A school ballots when applicants exceed places.

Places and applicants: MOE 2026 Phase 2C data, day three. Dunearn House distances are measured on the address points. The Continuum's bands are OneMap's official answer for each block. Both explained below.

Nine of the 12 had more applicants than places this year. Raffles Girls' Primary, with 137 places, and CHIJ (Katong) Primary, with 92, are the exceptions. At those two the new rule changes little, because nobody was balloted out.

Why did the 1km line decide Phase 2C at these schools?

When a school ballots in Phase 2C today, MOE places citizens living within 1km first, then citizens between 1km and 2km, then everyone else, in that order. At a school that ballots every year, if you live between 1km and 2km, your child only reaches the ballot after every 1km citizen has a place.

Nanyang Primary has balloted its Phase 2C places every year since 2019, on MOE's records: 63 applicants for 42 places in 2025, 79 for 40 in 2024, 89 for 41 in 2022, and 68 for 40 this year. Tao Nan has balloted every year since 2019 as well, with 81 applicants for 45 places in 2025. At either school, a family at 1.2km has been placed after every 1km citizen.

From the 2027 exercise, the within-2km track at Nanyang holds 30 places, and every citizen inside 2km ballots for them together. This year's 68 applicants are a rough guide. If most of them live inside 2km, which is where families targeting Nanyang tend to be, that is 68 children for 30 places, against 68 for 40 this year. The 1km family's odds get worse. The 1 to 2km family's odds go from last in line to the same as everyone else's. And the beyond-2km track offers 30 places to families who had none before.

That said, a level footing is still a ballot. At two applicants per place, most of the within-2km track misses out, and MOE has said it will track how this first round goes.

How far is Dunearn House from Nanyang, RGPS, MGS and Pei Hwa?

MOE measures home-school distance as the shortest straight line from any point on the school's boundary to the building outline of your address, and OneMap's School Query is the tool it points parents to. That dataset was last refreshed in June 2026, before Dunearn House's building plan existed, so the five Dunearn House postal codes return no record yet. The next refresh, in June 2027, will carry the building outlines.

Until then, we measured from the same school boundaries to the five address points OneMap already holds for 760 to 770 Dunearn Road. We checked the method against a completed neighbour first. For Fourth Avenue Residences block 4, it gives 903m to Raffles Girls' Primary, 1,373m to Nanyang and 1,473m to MGS. OneMap's official answer for that block is within 1km for the first and 1 to 2km for the other two.

Shortest straight line from each official school boundary to Dunearn House's address points, computed on the OneMap School Query boundaries, September 2026.

MGS Primary is 1,037m from the nearest address point and 981m from the site boundary. A building's outer wall sits somewhere between its address point and the boundary, so the block nearest Blackmore Drive could land either side of 1,000m when the outline is filed. Nanyang is 1,959m on the farthest address point, which leaves about 40m of room on the 2km side, and an outline can only be nearer than its address point. So the reasonable reading today is four schools inside 2km and none inside 1km, with MGS the one to check in June 2027.

What does the two-track rule do to Dunearn House's exit?

In July we gave Dunearn House 6 out of 10, with Exit at 2 of 4. The argument was that Bukit Timah demand is mostly its own residents, upgraders and school-chasing families, and that those buyers pay for size. Against that, 176 of the 380 homes are 2-bedders of 678 sqft or less. The school-chasing family was the one buyer the project could not fully serve, because every school it wanted sat outside 1km.

That buyer now has a reason to look. In Phase 2C at Nanyang, Raffles Girls' Primary, MGS and Pei Hwa, a Dunearn House address will count the same as a Coronation Road address. Few condos have that combination. Only three condos with a OneMap building record sit inside 2km of all four today: Eleven@Holland, Villa Azura, and Royalgreen across the road, where some blocks fall beyond 2km of Pei Hwa. Dunearn House becomes the fourth when its outline is filed, if the MGS and Nanyang lines hold.

URA records carry 228 developer sales lodged between 24 July and 22 August 2026.

URA transaction records, developer sales, 24 July to 22 August 2026. New-launch prices for a condo completing in December 2030. Resale prices in 2031 will be set in 2031.

A 3-bedroom bought at $2.9 million this summer completes in December 2030. The first Primary 1 registration anyone can file from that address is the 2031 exercise, for a child born in 2025 or 2026. The buyer most likely to want that unit from you in 2031 is a family with a five-year-old, no alumni link, and four two-track schools inside 2km. In July that family had little reason to pick this address over a 1km resale. Now the 1km resale offers it nothing extra in Phase 2C.

On our scorecard, that lifts Exit for the 3- and 4-bedrooms from 2 of 4 to 3 of 4. The 2-bedders stay where they were: a family registering for Primary 1 does not buy 527 sqft, and 103 of the 228 sales so far are 2-bedrooms.

Is The Continuum within 2km of Tao Nan, Tanjong Katong and CHIJ Katong?

Yes, and here the answer is official rather than measured. The Continuum's seven postal codes are already in OneMap's dataset, and every one of them returns the same three of the 12.

Bands: OneMap School Query, June 2026 dataset, for 1 to 8 Thiam Siew Avenue. Metres: shortest line from the official boundary to the nearest address point.

The Continuum is 816 freehold homes on two plots either side of Thiam Siew Avenue, built by Hoi Hup and Sunway on a 25,083 sqm site, with vacant possession expected on 17 November 2027. It launched in May 2023, selling 26.5 per cent of its units that first weekend at an average of $2,732 psf, and the developer is still selling three years on. URA records show 199 developer sales and two sub-sales in the 12 months to August 2026.

URA transaction records, developer sales, September 2025 to August 2026. The 3-bedroom medians are by size: $3,285,000 at 1,087 sqft, $3,563,000 at 1,238 sqft, $3,654,000 at 1,249 sqft. Two sub-sales of 2-bedrooms closed at $1,808,000 and $2,150,000.

Tao Nan is the gain for The Continuum. Tao Nan balloted Phase 2C in each of the last seven years and had 57 applicants for 42 places this year, and a Continuum address sits between 1km and 2km of it. From 2027 it is level with the 1km homes along Marine Parade Road. CHIJ (Katong) Primary changes little either way: 82 applicants for 92 places in 2026, so nobody at 1 to 2km was being balloted out.

Tanjong Katong Primary runs the other way. The Continuum is inside 1km of it, and Tanjong Katong balloted this year with 94 applicants for 56 places. Under one track, a Continuum family was placed ahead of every 1 to 2km family. Under two tracks it ballots with them. So the condo gains an equal footing at Tao Nan and gives one up at Tanjong Katong. For a family whose first choice is Tao Nan, that is an improvement on July. For one whose first choice is Tanjong Katong, it is a step back in Phase 2C, though not in 2A or 2B.

More than 200 condos and apartment blocks with a OneMap building record sit inside 2km of all three schools, Amber Park and Tembusu Grand among them. In Katong the three-school position is the normal one. The rule improves it for all of them at once, which is different from Bukit Timah, where the four-school position belongs to three condos today and a fourth in 2027.

Which condos gain, and which give up an edge?

More condos sit between 1km and 2km of these schools than inside 1km. On the June 2026 dataset, counting only condos with a OneMap building record, 46 sit within 1km of Nanyang Primary and 79 between 1km and 2km. At Raffles Girls' Primary it is 34 against 46, at MGS 18 against 58, at Tao Nan 100 against 124, at CHIJ (Katong) Primary 102 against 125, and at Tanjong Katong Primary 96 against 205. Pei Hwa is the one school where the inner group is larger, 35 against 25. At every other school on the list, more condos gain a footing in Phase 2C than lose one.

Around Dunearn House, Fourth Avenue Residences sits within 1km of Raffles Girls' Primary and gives up that Phase 2C head start, while staying level with Dunearn House at Nanyang and MGS. Mayfair Modern, Mayfair Gardens and The Linq @ Beauty World are within 1km of both MGS and Pei Hwa, and lose the 2C head start at both. Sixth Avenue Residences, at 1 to 2km from Nanyang, Raffles Girls' Primary and MGS, gains at all three. Leedon Green, within 1km of Nanyang on its nearest block, gives up the head start there too.

None of that touches Phases 2A and 2B. A 1km address at Nanyang still goes first when 2B ballots, and Nanyang's 2B balloted with 53 applicants for 20 places in 2025 and 52 for 20 this year. If your family has the alumni or volunteer link, the 1km premium still buys priority. If it does not, at these 12 schools it now buys less than it did before 10 September.

Should you buy Dunearn House or The Continuum for the schools?

For a family whose Primary 1 route is Phase 2C, Dunearn House's 3- and 4-bedrooms now do something they could not do in July. The 872 sqft 3-bedroom at a $2.689 million median and the 1,001 sqft premium at $3.268 million put you inside 2km of Nanyang, Raffles Girls' Primary, MGS and Pei Hwa on equal footing with the 1km resales. Only three other condos in the area hold that position. Buy it for own use, as a 3- or 4-bedroom, and check the MGS line on OneMap in June 2027. If your family has a 2A or 2B link, the 1km resale still earns its premium and this address does not replace it.

The Continuum is a freehold, family-sized Katong condo with vacant possession in November 2027, and that is the reason to buy it. The school position is shared by more than 200 condos around it, so it should not carry a premium of its own. The new rule adds a level shot at Tao Nan from the 2028 exercise and takes away the 1km head start at Tanjong Katong Primary in Phase 2C. Weigh those against each other according to which school you want.

OneMap files Dunearn House's outlines in June 2027 and settles the MGS line. The first two-track Phase 2C results follow in August 2027 and show whether 30 places inside 2km ballot harder than 40 did. MOE has said it will track those results. We will update both the Dunearn House review and our read of the second Dunearn Road parcel when they do. If you would rather not wait for the next piece, that is what our Telegram group is for.

Distances in this article are the shortest straight line from each school's official boundary, taken from the OneMap School Query dataset updated in June 2026, and they change each June. Confirm your own address on onemap.gov.sg/school in the year you register. Sales figures are URA transaction records as at 11 September 2026. Dunearn House prices are developer prices for a condo completing in December 2030.

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