Admiralty Walk EC tender: 450 homes and a test of the new rules

HDB has put a 450-unit executive condominium site at Admiralty Walk in Sembawang up for tender, only the second EC plot released since the rules changed in May. How developers bid here will be an early read on what the tougher regime does to land prices, and eventually to launch prices.

HDB launched the public tender on 30 June 2026. The 99-year leasehold site spans 12,893 sqm (about 138,800 sq ft) with a gross plot ratio of 3.5, giving a maximum gross floor area of 45,127 sqm and an estimated yield of 450 EC units, according to URA’s Government Land Sales records. The tender closes on 17 December 2026.

The first real test of the new EC regime

The timing is what makes this tender interesting. On 8 May 2026, the Government announced the biggest changes to the EC scheme in years, and they apply to any EC site whose tender closes on or after that date. Three things changed: the minimum occupation period (MOP) doubles from 5 to 10 years, with full privatisation pushed from the 11th year to the 16th; the Deferred Payment Scheme is gone, so buyers service their loan progressively during construction instead of deferring until completion; and 90% of units are now reserved for first-timer households, up from 70%, with the first-timer priority window stretched from one month to two years.

Admiralty Walk is the second site caught by these rules. The first, at Canberra Drive, is also in Sembawang and closes on 1 October 2026. ERA Singapore’s key executive officer Eugene Lim expects developers to take their cue from that earlier result, since both plots would draw from the same pool of EC first-timers and HDB upgraders living nearby.

A waterfront site with honest trade-offs

The plot sits on the east bank of Sungei Sembawang, and ERA notes its long water frontage could give the future project a waterfront character. It adjoins Northoaks Primary School and falls within 1 km of Canberra Primary and Endeavour Primary, a plus for families planning around Primary 1 registration.

The trade-offs are real, though. Sembawang MRT station is more than 1 km away, roughly a 20 to 30 minute walk, and there are few amenities within easy reach today. Wong Siew Ying, head of research and content at PropNex Realty, also pointed out that some homes may end up facing the industrial areas at Senoko and Woodlands across the water.

The neighbourhood is filling in. Four new BTO projects are coming up nearby: Sembawang Voyage (1,173 flats) and Sembawang Deck (777) from February 2026, plus Sembawang Brook (1,160) and Sembawang Portico (875) from June 2026. Justin Quek, deputy group CEO of Realion Group, noted these projects will bring an eating house, a minimart, new shops and preschools. Worth remembering, however, that the Sembawang North BTO projects drew some of the lowest application rates of the June 2026 exercise, a hint that buyers are not yet sold on the location.

What the analysts expect

Both major agencies expect restraint. ERA sees up to three bidders with offers around $600 to $700 per sq ft per plot ratio (psf ppr). PropNex expects three to four bids with a top bid of roughly $590 to $640 psf ppr. Applied to the site’s maximum floor area of about 485,700 sq ft, those ranges imply a land price in the ballpark of $287 million to $340 million.

The caution has a clear logic: with first-timers making up at least 90% of launch-day demand and no Deferred Payment Scheme to ease cash flow, future buyers will be more price-sensitive, so developers want room to price the launch competitively.

Working the other way is scarcity. Only about 1,370 EC units across three sites are being offered through the GLS programme this year, down 30.5% from 1,970 units across five sites in 2025, per ERA. Developers who want EC land simply have fewer chances to get it.

EC land supply is thinner this year: about 1,370 units across three sites, down from 1,970 across five in 2025. Source: ERA Research and Market Intelligence.

What this means for you

• If you are an EC-eligible first-timer (household income up to $16,000), the new rules work in your favour here: 90% of units reserved and a two-year priority window. The price is commitment: a 10-year stay and loan payments that start during construction.
• No launch is imminent. With the tender closing only in December 2026, the project is unlikely to reach the market before 2028. Watch the Canberra Drive award in October for the first hard signal on where EC land prices, and therefore future launch prices, are heading.
• If you are a second-timer, your allocation at launch here is capped at 10%, and you may wait up to two years for unsold units. The EC projects launching from late 2026 at Woodlands Drive 17 and Sembawang Road, which sit outside the new rules, may matter more for your plans, per ERA.
• A measured land bid does not guarantee a cheap launch. Land is one cost among several, and thinner EC supply cuts the other way. Treat analyst bid forecasts as a range, not a promise.