HDB to launch two executive condo sites for sale

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) will be launching two Executive Condo (EC) sites for sale today.

The sites, which are located at Yishun and Sengkang, will have a total of 900 units. Both sites have a 99-year lease term.

The land parcel at Sengkang is located near the Buangkok MRT station. It has a maximum permissible gross floor area of 57,000 sq m and a land area of 19,000 sq m.

At Yishun, the site has around 42,000 sq m of maximum gross floor area and about 15,000 sq m of land area.

According to HDB, the tender of the sites will end in March 2010.

Li Hiaw Ho, Executive Director of CBRE Research, said that the decision of the government to bring back executive condos is possibly due to last year’s strong demand for private condos in the mass market.

The 13,500 new HDB flats sold in 2009 also proved that there is strong demand for housing by first-time homebuyers, CBRE said.

These executive condominiums are an additional housing option for first-time homebuyers and the sandwich class – professionals and young couples with household incomes of less than $10,000 per month.

La Casa was the last EC launched in May 2005 at about $550 per sq ft and was completed early in 2008.

CBRE said the site at Sengkang should fetch an average selling price of $600 per sq ft and a land price of between $250 and $300 per sq ft per plot ratio.

CBRE estimates that the site at Yishun Avenue 1 will fetch an average selling price of $500 per sq ft and between $150 and $200 per sq ft per plot ratio.