ST : Buyers snap up 270 units of Punggol EC

Dec 14,2010

Buyers snap up 270 units of Punggol EC
More than a third of units sold on executive condo's first day of sales

By Esther Teo
BUYERS have flocked to the latest in a spate of executive condominium (EC) launches, snapping up 270 homes - more than one-third of those on offer - on the first day of sales of the Punggol project.

Launches of ECs, an upmarket hybrid of public and private housing, are coming fast and furious after a five-year drought.

The NTUC Choice Homes Cooperative's 680-unit EC project Prive at the junction of Punggol Field and Punggol Road is the third EC in the past couple of months with another possibly on the way this month and more likely next year.

The average price for the project is $660 per sq ft to $690 per sq ft (psf). It had received 1,036 applications as at Tuesday.

With the Prive sales on day one yesterday, it means nearly 1,000 EC units have been sold in the recent flurry.

Before this year's launches, the last EC launch was La Casa in Woodlands in 2005.

Then in October this year, Esparina Residences by Frasers Centrepoint Homes near Buangkok MRT station was launched. This was swiftly followed by MCC Land's The Canopy in Yishun in the same month and most recently, Prive.

United Engineers' Australian-themed EC project, the 540-unit Austville Residences, next to Punggol Park is expected to be launched in the next few weeks.

Prive is offering the deferred payment scheme (DPS) allowing buyers to pay just a 5 per cent booking fee and 15 per cent of the purchase price. They need not make further payment until completion.

Many had assumed DPS was scrapped for ECs, as for other property, in October 2007 to curb speculation. However, it has emerged that ECs were exempted from the change. NTUC Choice Homes said yesterday that fewer than 10 per cent of Prive buyers had opted for DPS.

With this deluge of new homes to meet demand from the so-called sandwich class - households earning $8,000 to $10,000 - buyers are spoilt for choice with another four EC sites in areas like Tampines, Choa Chu Kang, Punggol and Serangoon on the government land sales programme for the first half of next year.

Experts said, however, that with supply being ramped up, not all ECs will perform as well, as buyers weigh different factors such as pricing, location and accessibility more carefully before buying.

Propnex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said these are the key considerations of realistic buyers seeking greater convenience in the light of rising transport costs.

Esparina Residences, for example, has set the highest benchmark price for an EC with 513 out of 573 units sold at an average price of $740 psf - about 14 per cent pricier than 406-unit The Canopy which had sold 210 units at an average $650 psf.

Despite the higher price, sales have been stronger at Esparina, which is next to Buangkok MRT station. The Canopy is further from Yishun MRT Station though it is right by Yishun Park.

Neither Esparina nor The Canopy has offered the DPS.

Prices for Austville Residences will start from $620 psf and like Prive, it will offer the DPS.

Mr Simon Lee, 36, successfully balloted for a 1,098 sq ft three-bedroom plus study apartment at Prive for $806,000 - or about $734 psf. He decided to upgrade from his Bishan HDB flat, as the convenience of the MRT station next to the new project was a big draw.

'We have two boys and we think that the condo environment with its facilities will be good for them... We tried Esparina as well but didn't get it,' he added.

esthert@sph.com.sg