The long game: Jean Yip Developments on building properties to keep, not to sell

In Cannington, on the fringes of Perth, Elements at Carousel began with a question: could an apartment block feel less like a building and more like a neighbourhood? The answer runs through its 10 storeys, where a six-storey skylit atrium threads a cascading green wall through the development’s core, and a rooftop garden looks over the Perth skyline.

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“Rather than treating communal facilities as secondary amenities, we wanted them to become an integral part of the residential experience,” says Yip, of the gym, yoga studio and rooftop barbecue deck residents treat as everyday amenities. Its 114 units, all approved for short stay and Airbnb use, sit above ground-floor retail units, with the interiors kept deliberately relaxed in natural textures while solar panels and energy-efficient lighting work behind the scenes.

Completed in 2025 within the Canning City Centre regeneration precinct, near Westfield Carousel and Curtin University, the development has since been named Best Apartment Development and Best Investment Apartment Development at the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards.

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JY Suites Tsutenkaku takes a different starting point altogether: Osaka itself, a city where good design often means making a compact footprint work exceptionally hard. Located in Naniwa Ward, within walking distance of Tsutenkaku Tower, Nippombashi and Namba, the 49 unit development was conceived for residential living and short stay use in equal measure. “The intent was not to create an inward-looking residential enclave, but a contemporary base from which residents could experience the city immediately around them,” says Yip.

Its scale was deliberate too, kept boutique rather than expanded for volume, letting Jean Yip Developments manage each unit closely, from planning through to occupancy. The interiors favour a calm, efficient planning scheme, built for residents and travellers who move quickly, but expect comfort regardless.

The approach was recognised in 2025, when JY Suites Tsutenkaku won Best Affordable Condo Development for the Kansai region, while Jean Yip Developments itself was named Best Developer and Best Lifestyle Developer in Japan, a signal of how far the company’s expansion into the country has come since it first entered the market in 2016.

In Singapore, University Road Developments perhaps represents the clearest expression yet of the philosophy behind them all. Perched on sloping terrain in one of Bukit Timah’s most established enclaves, the three detached houses that comprise the development step with the land rather than fight it, using terraces, courtyards and light wells to draw daylight deep into each home. “We wanted the sense of space to unfold gradually, rather than reveal itself all at once,” says Yip.

Every residence has five ensuite bedrooms, a private lift and its own pool, though the ambition was never simply to add features. “A successful home is not defined by aesthetics alone,” Yip adds. “It should feel intuitive to live in, and create an environment where residents can genuinely feel at home.” That conviction, shaped by two decades spent developing to keep rather than to sell, earned Jean Yip Developments and University Road Developments three honours at the 2025 PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards: Best Landed Developer and Best Housing Development, as well as Best Boutique Landed Housing Development.

“We measure a development not by how it looks on day one,” says Yip, “but by how gracefully it ages.” Two decades on, across three cities, that patience has become Jean Yip Developments’ signature, one that continues to set it apart in sophisticated markets.

Jean Yip Developments, 50 Kaki Bukit Place, #07-01 Jean Yip Building, Tel: 6971 1124, jeanyipdevelopments.com

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