SINGAPORE - Jurong lake district's highly-subscribed Lake Life development will go for sale at an average of $857 psf, a discount from its indicative market pricing of $880 to $890 psf.
The prices of the different units will range from $799 to $930 psf, giving its developers, a consortium led by Evia Real Estate, a 6 per cent profit margin instead of its previous 10 per cent target.
Lake Life is one of three executive condominium (EC) projects to be launched since cooling measures were put in place for the EC sector in 2013.
ECs are a public-private housing hybrid where buyer eligibility is restricted to Singaporeans, with a minimum five year occupation period before the unit may be sold in the open market.
Mr Vincent Ong, managing partner of Evia Real Estate, said that the lower selling price factors in a shrinking market size due to cap on the Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) for housing loans for purchase of EC units.
"The name of the game is affordability," Mr Ong said in a media interview Thursday: "Developers are now resizing their approach to look at dollar amounts rather than a per square foot price, because banks lend at a quantum, despite the square foot price."
Lake Life's $857 psf price is also lower than that of nearby private condominiums such as Lakeville by MCL Land, where units are selling for an average of $1,328 psf.
Earlier this month, Lake Life set a record for the highest number of e-applications received for an EC project - 1,853 for 546 units.
Typically, only one in 10 applications translates into a sale, said Mr Ong.
"But because it's Jurong, I expect 15 per cent will convert," he added, noting that Lake Life is Jurong's first EC offering in 17 years.
The show flats will be open for viewing on Nov 1, instead of Nov 5 as previously announced, and Mr Ong expects to sell half the units on the first weekend.
Bookings for the units begin on Nov 8.
Two other ECs will begin sales ahead of that - Qingjian Realty's Bellewoods in Woodlands launches on Nov 1, with a price range of $750 to $820, while Qingjian's Bellewaters in Sengkang launches on Nov 7.
