The Last of its Kind: The End of ECs as We Know It
This is a guest post by Deborah Koh
On 8th May 2026, the government announced three major changes to the Executive Condo (EC) scheme. Whether you’re thinking of buying your first home, upgrading, or just keeping tabs on the property market – this affects you.
What has changed?
In a nutshell, the 3 changes are:
| Current Rules | New Rules | |
|---|---|---|
| Priority | 70% set aside for first-time buyers | 90% set aside for first-time buyers |
| Priority Period | 1 month | 2 years |
| Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) | 5 years | 10 years |
| Deferred Payment Scheme (DPS) | 20% upfront Remaining after TOP | Removed |
| Valid For | Existing ECs and launches | Future launches |
Before we talk about the impact, let’s first take a closer look at ECs.
What’s an EC?
An Executive Condominium sits right in the middle of Singapore’s housing ladder. You get the full private condo experience: swimming pool, gym, function rooms, 24-hour security, but at a price closer to public housing, with government grants to boot. ECs are developed and sold by private property developers, but governed by HDB rules.
ECs were introduced in 1995 specifically for the “sandwich class”: households earning too much to qualify for a BTO flat, but finding private condos a stretch. The income ceiling today sits at $16,000/month – higher than BTO’s $14,000 cap, and with access to CPF Housing Grants that you’d never get if you bought a private property.
The table above breaks down housing purchase eligibility at a glance.
| Housing Type | Income Ceiling | Who Can Buy? | Grants Available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDB BTO | S$14,000 per month | SC/PR with family nucleus or eligible singles (2-room only) | Yes 🟢 |
| EC (new launch) | S$16,000 per month (Base Salary) | After MOP: SC/PR including singles. After privatisation: anyone including foreigners | Yes 🟢 |
| Private condo | None | Anyone (ABSD applies to PRs & foreigners) | No 🔴 |
Famous ECs You Might Know
Some ECs have become legendary in Singapore property circles. The Esparis in Pasir Ris, Bishan Loft, and Centrale 8 in Tampines are classic examples of early buyers who rode huge appreciation. More recently, Hundred Palms Residences in Yio Chu Kang saw sellers walking away with returns exceeding 100% on their initial purchase price. The Canopy in Yishun, Parc Life in Sembawang, and iNz Residence in Choa Chu Kang are other well-known names that made EC a buzzword among upgraders.
Why ECs Have Always Been a Smart Play
For the right buyer, an EC has historically been one of the most efficient ways to build wealth through property in Singapore. Let me explain why.
1. Condo Living at a Significant Discount
As shown in the chart, new ECs in 2024 launched at around $1,580 psf on average, compared to $2,203 psf for comparable new private launches in the Outside Central Region – a huge 44% gap. On a 1,000 sqft unit, that’s potentially $600,000 in savings at entry.
On top of that, eligible first-timer households can tap on CPF Housing Grants, reducing their out-of-pocket costs and barriers to entry even further.
Despite the significant price savings, ECs are still largely similar to condos which both come fully equipped with amenities such as pools, gyms, BBQ pits and even full-sized tennis courts.
2. A Widening Buyer Pool Over Time
This is where ECs have a structural advantage that many buyers overlook. Unlike HDB flats which can only be sold to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents who meet specific family nucleus requirements, an EC’s resale pool expands progressively.
What starts as a subsidised home becomes a fully privatised property open to the world, including foreigners, after privatisation. That’s a structural demand driver built right into the product.
This expanding buyer pool is one of the core reasons ECs have historically commanded strong resale prices. Demand broadens significantly at each stage, and when foreigners enter the picture post-privatisation, you’re essentially competing in the open market, often at prices comparable to nearby private condos. (Note that Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty rates for PRs and foreigners still apply to their purchases.)
3. The Deferred Payment Scheme: A Financing Advantage (While It Lasted)
One feature that made new EC launches uniquely attractive, especially for second-time homeowners upgrading from an HDB flat, was the Deferred Payment Scheme (DPS). Unlike the standard Progressive Payment Scheme (PPS), where you pay in tranches as each stage of construction is completed, DPS allows buyers to pay just 20% upfront and defer the remaining 80% until the project receives its Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP).
Why was this so powerful? Estimates suggest that around 60% of EC buyers were using DPS to structure their purchases. It gave buyers time to sell their existing HDB flat, settle their finances, and lock in their EC unit at today’s price – without having to service a full loan immediately.
For second-time buyers with existing mortgage loans, their Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) would only consider the bulk of the payments at TOP, meaning that they could leverage on DPS to maximise their Loan-to-Value ratio and borrowing capacity at the time of purchase.
Private developments, by contrast, generally cannot offer this scheme, making it a distinct EC advantage. As we’ll discuss shortly, this advantage has now been removed under the new rules.
4. Concentrated Demand, Limited Supply – A Recipe for Price Support
Here’s a counterintuitive insight: the very restrictions that make ECs harder to buy also help protect their value. The $16,000 income ceiling concentrates demand among a specific group of buyers who can maximise their Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratios and have the CPF savings for a meaningful downpayment. In other words, financially qualified and motivated buyers.
At the same time, EC supply is extremely limited relative to HDB. Between 2021 and 2025, HDB launched approximately 102,300 BTO flats – that’s over 20,000 units a year on average.
In contrast, the entire EC market typically sees just 500 to 2,000 units launched annually. In 2024, for instance, only 1,016 EC units were launched across the whole of Singapore. You’re looking at a ratio of roughly 20:1 in terms of new public housing supply versus new EC supply.
That scarcity, against a backdrop of qualified, eager demand, has historically been a key driver of EC price resilience and appreciation.
This Year is Your Last Chance, and the Window Is Narrowing Fast
These rule changes also only apply to new EC sites tendered from 8 May 2026 onwards. If you already own an EC, or are buying a resale EC that was launched before this date, you are completely unaffected.
1. It’s about to get a lot harder for second-time buyers
Under the current rules, developers set aside 70% of units for first-timers for just 1 month. After that, the remaining 30% opens up to all eligible buyers including second-timers – a tight but workable window for upgraders.
Under the new rules, 90% of units are reserved exclusively for first-timers for 2 full years. That leaves second-timers competing for just 10% of units at any new EC launch.
If you’ve previously bought an HDB flat or received a CPF Housing Grant, you are considered a second-timer and your access to new EC launches just became significantly harder. This isn’t a minor tweak, it’s a structural shift in who these homes are realistically accessible to.
2. Existing ECs are completely unaffected
Every EC site tendered from 8 May 2026 onwards falls under the new rules. The five projects already in the pipeline before that date are grandfathered – meaning they still come with a 5-year MOP, DPS option, full privatisation at year 10, and the 70% first-timer quota with just a 1-month priority window. These 5 ECs collectively represent the last ~1,975 EC units that will ever be sold under the original framework.
These are namely:
- Woodlands Drive EC #1
- Senja Close EC
- Sembawang Road EC
- Woodlands Drive EC #2
- Miltonia Close
If you can’t wait for the pipeline, Coastal Cabana in Pasir Ris still has remaining units available right now at around ~$1,734 psf and estimated TOP in Q1 2029.
Why Did the Government Do This? (A Personal Take)
Let me share what I genuinely believe is behind these changes – because I think understanding the why actually matters for how you approach your next move.
ECs were never meant to be a flipping instrument. They were conceived as a subsidised pathway for middle-income Singaporean families to access quality housing: condo living with government support.
But over the past few years, the market started treating them as something closer to investment vehicles. The data backs this up: the proportion of EC buyers who were first-timers fell to between 30% and 40% in 2024 and 2025, down from about 50% in 2020. Demand was increasingly driven by second-timers looking to capitalise on the 5-year flip window, especially with DPS making it even easier to hold multiple properties simultaneously. The explosive response to Aurelle, Coastal Cabana, and Rivelle made it clear that the market had shifted.
The government saw this, and responded the way it always has: deliberately and systematically. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen these moves. The introduction of Prime and Plus HDB flat classifications brought stricter selling restrictions and subsidy clawbacks to prevent windfall profits in public housing. The 15-month wait-out period for private property downgraders before purchasing a resale HDB flat and 30 months before buying a BTO were specifically designed to deter speculative cycling through the public housing market. The message across all these measures has been consistent: public housing is for living in, not for timing the market.
I think these are the right moves for Singapore as a whole. A property bubble built on speculative demand in subsidised housing helps no one – it inflates prices for genuine buyers, distorts the market, and undermines the very purpose these homes were built for.
But here’s the other side of that coin.
We are witnessing a real, historic shift. The EC as we’ve known it: a legitimate instrument for asset progression with a defined 5-year exit, DPS flexibility, and a 10-year privatisation runway, is being restructured. For sincere buyers who want to own an EC and still want to maintain that original asset progression timeline, this is a narrowing window. Not a closing door, but a narrowing one.
The Moment to Act Is Now
We all have that one regret. The property a family member bought in Bishan in the 90s that’s now worth three times what they paid. The friend who bought Bitcoin at $500 and you thought they were being reckless. The Apple shares that seemed expensive at $20.
The people who made those calls didn’t have a crystal ball. They just had conviction, and they acted when others were still debating.
If you’re someone looking to buy an EC while still benefiting from the original framework – the 5-year MOP, the DPS option, the 10-year privatisation, you are looking at the last five projects in Singapore that offer this.
Reach out to Deborah at 97337143 or Telegram @dddebbs today – whether you want to understand your eligibility, run the numbers, or simply have an honest conversation about what makes sense for your family’s next step. No pressure, just clarity.
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Seth Wee was a licensed financial adviser representative from 2009 to 2025, with over 16 years of experience in Singapore’s financial advisory industry.
He started Sethisfy.com in 2019 to share practical insights on credit cards, banking products, and miles strategies, helping readers identify financial products that deliver the best value. Seth has been featured in CNA, Channel 8, Today, and a host of other publications. In 2025, he was also part of a panel at CPF’s Ready For Life festival.
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