Experts see ECs as a good buy

HOME hunters worried that executive condominiums (ECs) lack the prestige of private condos should think again, according to property consultants. 

For those who are eligible, ECs - a public-private housing hybrid - offer a condo-like environment with government subsidies thrown in, they said. 

'ECs have most, if not all, of the facilities of private mass-market condominiums and are generally comparable in design and facilities. 


Some home owners who bought ECs a decade or so ago have benefited from their homes' rising value. 

For instance, Nuovo, in Ang Mo Kio, went for an average price of $789 per sq ft (psf) in the first five months of this year. It was sold for $399 psf in 2001, when it was launched. Units range in size from 1,119 to 2,626 sq ft. 

The EC option helped to reduce the long queue of sandwich-class home buyers who wanted executive flats, which were larger HDB flats then.
  
But the property boom drove up home prices and led to a greater appreciation of ECs. 

Cost-wise, home buyers are likely to find a new EC in a far-flung place to have prices comparable to a resale HDB flat in more established areas.
  
But not all recently launched ECs have done well. 

Source: The Straits Times – 7 June 2012