Neighbourhood Estate Guide: Why Woodlands Can Be The Star Destination Of The North

Woodlands is no longer just seen as a stopover before crossing the Causeway to Johor Bahru, Malaysia, but it’s steadily transforming into an all-rounded regional centre for Singaporeans to live, work, and play. More recently, it was one of the 3 towns highlighted by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in the National Day Rally 2025 when announcing town development plans.

From affordable housing and established amenities to exciting upcoming projects, Woodlands is shaping up to be the star destination of the North.

History

Located in the northwest of the country, Woodlands is one of the top 4 biggest towns by population size, home to over 250,000 residents – making it densely populated despite its previous non-mature town classification.

The beginnings of Woodlands can be traced back to the opening of the Johor – Singapore Causeway in 1923. It began life as a farming community of mainly rubber and poultry before its post-independence transformation. The first HDB flats of the town were built in 1972 in the northern part of Marsiling. However, the formation of Woodlands as a town truly took shape from the 1980s once the Woodlands Bus Interchange was built.

The town is divided into four neighbourhoods consisting of Woodlands (located at the centre, northeast and west of Woodlands Town), Marsiling (located west and southwest of Woodlands Square), Woodgrove (located south of Woodlands Square), and Admiralty (located East of Woodlands Square).

Business Activity

While most Singaporeans may not associate Woodlands as a commercial hub, it was once bustling with scores of “Bas Pekerja”, or “Bus Workers”, transporting Malaysian workers to and from the many factories located in the area. Over time, as the businesses modernised with technological advancement and demand for low-skilled labour declined, the sight of these buses gradually dwindled.

That said, Woodlands continues to play a vital role as a commercial node with the development of the Woodlands Regional Centre, offering about 700,000 sqm of commercial space and creating up to 100,000 new job opportunities that support the Northern Gateway and Agri-tech and Food Corridor.

Additionally, a new mixed-use business cluster in Woodlands North Coast will also be designed for businesses to take advantage of the Singapore-Johor Special Economic Zone. It will cater to the needs of both SMEs and MNCs in the general manufacturing industry to allow for more flexible work spaces, encouraging experimentation and innovation.

These plans, which will be executed in phases over a span of 10 years, will revamp Woodlands Central into a more appealing, vibrant and well-connected environment for companies in the business services, science and technology, and food and agri-tech sectors.

Accessibility

First and foremost, let’s talk about the elephant in the room when it comes to accessibility to and from Woodlands. It’s “ulu” far! (period). The only time most of us would consider going to Woodlands is when we have to cross the causeway.

On that front, accessibility to Johor is set to be greatly enhanced with the Rapid Transit System Link (RTS) project. It is expected to be completed by end-2026, and will ferry around 288,000 people daily.  When completed, it will only take around five minutes to travel from Woodlands North station to Bukit Chagar, Johor. Furthermore, with passengers having to go through immigration clearance only once at the point of departure, the RTS project will provide easy, fast, and comfortable access to people travelling across the Malaysia- Singapore border. With the cancellation of the Kuala Lumpur – Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) project in Jurong, Woodlands will become the focal point for land border crossings, which will be greatly enhanced with the redeveloped (and bigger) Woodlands Checkpoint.

Residents in Woodlands are connected to the rest of the island via the North-South Line (NSL) and Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) – the sixth MRT line. With the TEL, residents in Woodlands can travel from Woodlands South to Orchard in 35 minutes, compared to the current travel time of 50 minutes by train and bus. Furthermore, when fully completed, it will give residents another option of traveling to the Eastern regions, such Marine Parade and Bedok South, which were previously not accessible by train.

Woodlands is also well served by a network of roads, with around 12 main roads linking to the town. The notable ones are Avenues 2, 3, 7, and 12. Woodlands Avenue 2 and 12 link motorists to the Seletar Expressway (SLE), Woodlands Avenue 3 links motorists to the causeway and to the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE), whereas Woodlands Avenue 7 connects to Admiralty and Gambas Avenue. Like the other developments in Woodlands, the road network is also undergoing major upgrades.

The North-South Corridor, which is expected to be completed in 2026, will be Singapore’s longest Transit Priority Corridor, featuring bus lanes, cycling trunk routes, and pedestrian paths. When completed, the 21.5km corridor will directly connect the Northern region and the city centre. It will alleviate traffic on the Central Expressway (CTE) and major arterial roads such as Thomson and Marymount road. Furthermore, with the dedicated and continuous bus lanes, commuters can expect to save around 10-15 minutes of their travel time.

With the construction of these transport nodes, the journey to and from Woodlands would become shorter and be less of a hassle than it is now.

Housing

With an estimated 71,947 dwelling units already built in Woodlands and a projected ultimate target of 102,000 dwelling units, there is something for everyone here in Woodlands, be it rental, resale or Build-To-Order (BTO) flats within the public housing market.

For those looking at the private market, there are only slightly more than a handful of private condominium projects in Woodlands. Unlike other towns, these are mainly located at Woodgrove (Woodlands Avenue 1). This is also where a small cluster of landed units can be found, which house mainly expats from the nearby Singapore American School (SAS). Likewise, for those seeking an Executive Condominium (EC) unit, Woodlands may not offer as many choices, though there are certainly a handful of old and new ECs to choose from.

Housing in Woodlands is mainly made up of HDB flats, and it is usually seen as being relatively affordable due to its location and fewer value-accrediting amenities.

We shall first compare the affordability of public (HDB) housing in Woodlands by looking at the median prices achieved for the 2^nd Quarter 2025 of Woodlands compared across all towns in Singapore.

HDB Resale Housing Price

Source: HDB

Looking at the latest HDB resale median price statistics, the median price for HDB flats across all categories in Woodlands is below that of the other towns. It’s worth noting that the price difference is wider for 4- and 5-room flats and narrower for 3-room and Executive flats. Nevertheless, housing prices in Woodlands are relatively more affordable, making them a good entry point for new homeowners or upgraders.

Adding to this appeal, is the announcement by PM Wong during the National Day Rally 2025, that around 4,000 HDB units will be built in the new “Housing by the Woods” precinct next to the Admiralty Park. This is in addition to the public and private housing that has been planned for development along the Woodlands waterfront. These new housing options would surely offer homebuyers a unique lifestyle experience in the North.

Education

The biggest concern of any parent would be ensuring they can get a school for their child(ren). Whether it is for a playgroup or to pre-tertiary, some parents would even take the effort to move closer to a school of choice so that their child(ren) can get the best education possible. As such, this is an important criterion in any town.

Source: ECDA

There are plenty of choices from both private and government funded childcare centres in Woodlands. It’s worth noting that though there might be many childcare centres, this does not assure you will get a place of your choice and at that time you will need it.

As your child grows up, the next phase of life is primary school education. This is the only time when the location of your home matters. The highest priority is given to children living within 1km of the school, second priority is given to children living up to 2km and the lowest priority is given to children living outside 2km of the school. There are over 12 primary schools in Woodlands and they are listed here for easy reference. Otherwise, you can also use the primary school finder to search for the nearest schools within your home.

Source: Primary School Finder

Apart from the primary schools, there is also a good selection of secondary schools within Woodlands, making it a convenient town for parents to raise their children. In addition to the pre-tertiary institutions, there is also one tertiary institution in the form of Republic Polytechnic, where even adult learners can enrol in short-term courses or Skillsfuture diploma courses under their lifelong learning programme.

*Fuchun Secondary School and Woodlands Ring School will merge in January 2025 to form Woodlands Ring Secondary School.

In short, as a town, Woodlands does well in terms of offering residents a good mix of schools at all levels.

Recreation

When it comes to recreation, most would only think of Woodlands as a gateway to Johor, a shopping and food paradise for locals.

However, for the residents of Woodlands, they can also look forward to the Causeway Point Shopping Mall and the Admiralty Park for their recreational needs. The Causeway Point Mall is the biggest mall in Woodlands and over the weekends, it can easily rival any malls in the city, in terms of crowd density. With a good mix of food and shopping outlets, it is a Mall patronized by all ages and walks of life.

For nature lovers, the Admiralty Park offers the best form of leisure as they can enjoy the flora and fauna at the largest park in the north. The park is also home to 26 slides, which coincidentally makes it the park with the greatest number of slides in Singapore. If physical activity is exhausting, then one can take a lazy stroll down the Woodlands Jetty at the waterfront park, where you can be treated to an occasional sighting of wild monkeys.

It may not be the hippest and most happening place to be; however, it does offer a mix of tranquilly and vibrant activities to keep the weekends filled.

Summary

This article was first written in 27 January 2021 and has been updated with the latest information.