After the government tightened EC rules in May and then widened the income ceiling, developers showed what they think EC buyers will pay. They bid more than anyone expected.
A consortium of Santarli Realty, Heeton Holdings, Sunray and Kay Lim Realty bid S$163.9 million, or S$825 psf per plot ratio, for the Canberra Drive EC site when the tender closed on 1 October 2026. That's a record for executive condominium land, beating analysts' forecasts of S$630 to S$750 psf ppr.
In May, the government tightened the rules on executive condominiums to cool a market that had been running hot. It extended the minimum occupation period to 10 years, removed the deferred payment scheme and reserved 90% of units for first-time buyers in the first two years. It later raised the EC household income ceiling from S$16,000 to S$18,000. I covered those changes in this piece on the new EC measures.
The Canberra Drive tender, which closed on Thursday, 1 October, was the first EC land sale under both sets of changes. It drew 13 bids, and the winning bid set a record.
| Bidder (parent companies) | Bid (S$m) | S$ psf ppr |
|---|---|---|
| SNC3 (Santarli Realty, Soon Li Heng), HS Invesco (Heeton, Sunray), Kay Lim Realty | 163.9 | 825 |
| Intrepid Investments, TID Residential (Hong Leong Holdings, Mitsui Fudosan) | 159.4 | 803 |
| Apex Asia Development, BHCC Construction, Hwa Seng Builder | 158.6 | 798 |
| CRF Land | 153.0 | 770 |
| CDL Constellation (City Developments) | 146.1 | 735 |
| Peak Valley (Kheng Leong Company) | 141.1 | 710 |
| EL Development | 135.1 | 680 |
| Evia Real Estate, Arc Canberra, H10 Holdings (Ho Lee Group) | 130.5 | 657 |
| MCS Thomson (Master Contract Services) | 129.3 | 651 |
| Macly Group, Roxy Development Partners, Greatsun Capital, Scree Innovation, Lin Bing Cheng | 127.2 | 640 |
| JBE Capital | 124.4 | 626 |
| Forsea Residence (China Communications Construction), CNQC Realty (Qingjian Realty), Jianan Realty Investments | 123.8 | 623 |
| Sim Lian Land and Sim Lian Development | 71.7 | 361 |
Huttons Asia CEO Mark Yip said it was the most bids for an EC site since the Sumang Walk tender in 2018. Analysts had expected three to six bids, so 13 was well above forecasts.
Look at the top three bids. At the Sin Ming tender last month, the winner bid 11% more than anyone else, which suggests one developer saw something the others didn't. Here the top three bids were within 3.4% of each other (S$825, S$803 and S$798 psf ppr), and three different groups reached almost the same price. That's a market consensus, and I find it more convincing than a single aggressive bid.
PropNex head of research Wong Siew Ying pointed to the higher income ceiling, which lets more households buy an EC. The investment of about S$164 million is also modest, so mid-sized developers and consortiums can take it on. Realion's Justin Quek pointed to the location near Canberra MRT station, Sembawang Shopping Centre, Canberra Plaza and several schools.
Mogul.sg's Nicholas Mak saw it as a problem for policy. He noted that four comparable EC sites in the north, two at Woodlands Drive 17 plus Sembawang Road and Miltonia Close, sold in the ten months before the May rules at an average of about S$750 psf ppr. A record bid after the tightening suggests the cooling effect has been largely undone. In his view, the government should have waited until at least three EC sites had sold under the tighter rules before raising the income ceiling.
ERA's Eugene Lim struck a more cautious note. He said developer appetite at future tenders will depend on upcoming supply, each site's attributes and the new rules, and that rising interest rates and a softer job market could make developers more restrained.
PropNex's Wong projects an average selling price of around S$1,900 psf. Mak estimates S$1,850 to S$1,920 psf, which he said would set a new benchmark for EC prices. The 11,535 sq m site has a gross floor area of 18,457 sq m and is expected to yield about 185 homes on a 99-year lease.
That implies a gap of roughly S$1,075 psf between land and selling price, much narrower than for private condos. Lucerne Grand's gap was about S$1,348 psf. EC pricing is held down by who is allowed to buy, which is why developers bid on EC land more carefully than the headline might suggest.
This is the question I'd ask. ECs bought from the developer are subject to the 30% mortgage servicing ratio. A household at the new S$18,000 income ceiling can therefore put at most S$5,400 a month towards the mortgage.
A rough illustration. At 2.5% over 30 years, S$5,400 a month supports a loan of about S$1.37 million. At 75% loan-to-value, that's a purchase price of about S$1.82 million, or roughly 960 sq ft at S$1,900 psf. That's for a household at the very top of the income ceiling, before banks apply their higher stress-test rate, which lowers the limit further. Most eligible households earn less, so the unit sizes and total prices will matter more than the psf.
Two of the May changes make this tighter. Without the deferred payment scheme, buyers pay progressive payments during construction, which means servicing a loan while possibly still paying rent or an HDB mortgage. With a 10-year minimum occupation period, an EC is a ten-year commitment from the day you collect the keys. It's no longer a five-year step towards selling.
The EC calculator shows your cash, CPF and loan through each construction stage with the right loan-to-value tiers and tenure limits, so you can test a S$1,900 psf price against your own income before the project launches.
Open the EC calculator →Developers showed what they think the new income ceiling is worth: a lot. Thirteen bidders and a tight cluster at the top tell me they expect strong EC demand, even with a 10-year MOP and no deferred payment option.
If you're an HDB upgrader eyeing an EC, the cheap-EC era is ending. At around S$1,900 psf, an EC in Sembawang starts to overlap with resale condos in the north that you can sell much sooner and buy with no income ceiling at all. Compare the two properly. My condo prices by MRT map shows what resale condos near Canberra and Sembawang stations are actually fetching.
If an EC is still right for you, plan for the full ten years, size the unit to what MSR allows rather than what you'd like, and keep enough cash to cover progressive payments while you're still in your current home. The ECs that suit their buyers best are the ones they never have to stretch to pay for.
Weighing an EC against a resale condo, or trying to work out what you can afford under the new EC rules? Let's go through your numbers.
WhatsApp Bryan → More guides →Sources: The Business Times, 2 October 2026, "Canberra Drive EC site draws crowd of 13 bids; top offer of S$825 psf ppr from Santarli-led JV sets record" by Chong Xin Wei, reporting provisional tender results from HDB (bidder parent companies per ACRA, via BT). Selling-price figures are analyst projections, not confirmed launch prices. The affordability example is my own illustration and depends on your income, age, loan tenure and the bank's assessment. See also EC income ceiling appeals. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
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