Executive Condos (EC): the investor & buyer guide

Executive condos launching soon

The upcoming EC pipeline — buy at launch (subject to the income ceiling and a 5-year wait) to capture the first-owner catch-up:

From the new-launch pipeline. Buying at launch means the income-ceiling wait and the 5-year MOP — but it is where the first-owner catch-up (~20 points) is captured. Indicative; confirm with the developer.

Fresh off MOP — the newest resale ECs

ECs that have just completed and are hitting their 5-year MOP are the freshest resale opportunities — newly open to Singaporean/PR buyers, and where the launch-to-resale catch-up is still playing out. Each is priced against its area on our fair-value model:

These are the freshest resale ECs — just past (or nearing) their 5-year MOP, so newly open to Singaporean/PR resale buyers. “Fair value vs area” is how each trades against its nearest same-era condos on our fair-value model.

Why we compare by neighbourhood, not district

Singaporeans don’t shop by URA district — they compare a home against the other projects in the same area. Districts are far too coarse for that: District 19 alone stretches from Serangoon to Hougang, Sengkang and Punggol, with very different price levels inside it. ECs tend to sit in the more affordable pockets, so a district-wide comparison unfairly pits them against better-sited condos and overstates the EC discount. Every number on this page instead matches each EC to the private condos closest to it on the map (same 99-year tenure, similar age and unit size).

Why ECs launch cheap

The Executive Condominium is a deliberate rung on Singapore’s housing ladder. ECs are built by private developers on state land sold at a concession and sold only to buyers under an income ceiling, with CPF grants for eligible first-timers. In exchange for the subsidy they carry a Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) and a privatisation timeline. That subsidy is why a brand-new EC lists well under the private condo next door — not because the building is inferior, but because the buyer pool and the land price were capped by policy. (See the URA and MND for the current rules.)

The MOP & privatisation timeline

At the first MOP the unit can be resold to Singaporeans and PRs — and because ECs sit almost entirely in the OCR, where SC/PR owner-occupiers and HDB upgraders are the natural buyers, that is the threshold that unlocks the bulk of demand. Full privatisation later adds foreigners and companies. By then most of the catch-up to nearby private prices has already happened.

The neighbourhood gap at every project age

For every age where enough ECs exist, we match each one to the private condos closest to it (within ~1.2 km, widened where an area is sparse), of similar age and unit size, and take the median $psf gap. 0% is parity. Gaps in the line are ages where Singapore simply didn’t launch ECs; the orange dashed line is the trend.

The line sits around parity — oscillating from roughly −7% to +10% with no downward march. Some cohorts print a premium (strong, well-sited ECs); a few sit modestly below. There is no widening “class discount” once you compare like-for-like on location — the trend is essentially flat (1.8 points per decade).

Two worked case studies: same street, same era

The fair test is the one a buyer actually faces — the EC versus the private condos on the same stretch of road, built in the same years. Two examples, matched by map distance:

Every resale EC — priced against its area

The full list, newest at the top, oldest at the bottom. For each Executive Condominium: its recent $psf, our fair-value read vs the area (undervalued = trading below its nearest same-era condos on the fair-value model; rich = above), and the three private condos closest to it with the $psf gap and map distance. Sort your eye down the Fair value column to find the resale ECs trading cheapest against their surroundings.