Decision guide · Buying
A checklist for households buying their first home at Solano Grand: first-timer status, income, documents, the bank's test, the cash and CPF for the first 20%, the grant, the payment stages and where to live until the keys. Checked 20 October 2026.
Filed underNew launchFinancing
Quick answer
Before booking, confirm that your household is eligible and within the $16,000 ceiling that applies to this site, check whether you count as first-timers for the CPF Housing Grant, and get a bank's in-principle loan approval. Have the 5% option fee ready for the booking day and the 15% balance downpayment for signing, plus stamp duty and legal fees. Then plan the later instalments and where you will live until the keys.
Part of: Buying a new EC in Singapore: eligibility, financing and the application process
Who is in the application, and who has taken a subsidy?
HDB's household groups include a fiancé and fiancée, and a married couple with or without children. A first-timer is someone who has not taken a housing subsidy: a flat bought from HDB, a resale flat bought with a CPF housing grant, a DBSS flat, an EC bought from a developer, or benefits such as SERS. If one partner has taken one, the household is a first-timer and second-timer couple: the grant is smaller and the second-timer pays any resale levy that applies.
The full rules are in buying a new EC: eligibility, financing and the application process.
Which ceiling, and how much grant?
The ceiling for Solano Grand is $16,000, counting everyone listed. A first-timer citizen couple may receive a CPF Housing Grant of $30,000 at $10,000 a month or less, $20,000 up to $11,000 and $10,000 up to $12,000; a citizen and PR couple, $20,000 or $10,000; a first-timer and second-timer couple of citizens, up to $15,000. HDB credits the grant to the eligible core members' CPF Ordinary Accounts.
What does the developer ask for?
HDB says the developer guides you on the income documents when you book. Households applying for the grant submit the EC application form, the CPF Housing Grant application form and the supporting documents to the developer at booking. Prepare them, but give them only to the developer and your solicitor, not through forms or messages elsewhere.
How much will a bank lend you?
Eligibility does not mean a loan. A bank tests repayments on all property loans against 30% of gross monthly income and all debts against 55%, at its own assessment rate. With no other housing loan it may lend up to 75% of the price, with at least 5% in cash, for a tenure of 30 years or less ending by age 65. Ask for an in-principle approval before the booking day.
What is paid on booking and on signing?
On booking: a 5% option fee. HDB lists cashier's order, cheque, telegraphic transfer, FAST, MEPS and GIRO for it. Then the 15% balance downpayment, within the time in the Option to Purchase, by CPF Ordinary Account savings (including any grant) or cash. Legal fees and stamp duty are paid on top, by cash or CPF. Where a buyer is a Singapore citizen, the ABSD on an EC bought from the developer is remitted.
What falls due during construction?
Under the normal scheme in the prescribed agreement, the rest of the price falls due as construction stages are completed, then 25% after TOP and 15% at completion. CDL has not announced Solano Grand's payment schemes. NPS and DPS compared sets out the schedule.
What happens while the EC is built?
Until the keys, you need somewhere to live and the money for it, alongside any instalments that fall due. After the keys, every core occupier must live in the EC throughout the 5-year minimum occupation period.
Official rules
Household income ceiling
$18,000 for new units in EC projects with tenders closing on or after 24 August 2026; $16,000 for new units in EC sites with tenders awarded before 24 August 2026.
Last verified 20 Oct 2026
Source: Executive Condominiums: eligibility, CPF Housing Grant, process, finding an EC and conditions after buying (Housing & Development Board), Last updated 25 Aug 2026. Extracted 20 Oct 2026.
CPF Housing Grant for an EC
At least one core member must be a first-timer. Up to $30,000 (both citizens) or $20,000 (citizen and PR); up to $15,000 for a first-timer and second-timer citizen couple; nothing above $12,000 a month.
Last verified 20 Oct 2026
Source: Executive Condominiums: eligibility, CPF Housing Grant, process, finding an EC and conditions after buying (Housing & Development Board), Last updated 24 Aug 2026. Extracted 20 Oct 2026.
First payments
A 5% option fee on booking, then the 15% balance downpayment within the time stated in the Option to Purchase, by CPF Ordinary Account savings or cash. Stamp duty and legal fees are on top.
Last verified 20 Oct 2026
Source: Executive Condominiums: eligibility, CPF Housing Grant, process, finding an EC and conditions after buying (Housing & Development Board), Last updated 8 Mar 2026. Extracted 20 Oct 2026.
Mortgage servicing ratio
Repayments on all property loans, including the new one, are capped at 30% of gross monthly income for an HDB flat or an EC whose MOP has not expired; all debt repayments at 55%.
Last verified 20 Oct 2026
Source: Rules for new housing loans (Monetary Authority of Singapore), Last revised 16 Dec 2021. Extracted 20 Oct 2026.
Loan limits
With no outstanding housing loan, a bank may lend up to 75% (at least 5% in cash), or 55% if the tenure is over 30 years or runs past age 65. With one outstanding housing loan: 45% or 25%, with at least 25% in cash.
Last verified 20 Oct 2026
Source: Rules for new housing loans (Monetary Authority of Singapore), LTV limits for options granted on or after 6 Jul 2018. Extracted 20 Oct 2026.
The prescribed payment schedule
The sale and purchase agreement for an EC is in a prescribed form, with 20% (including the booking fee) on signing or within 9 weeks after the option date, whichever is later, then instalments as construction stages are completed, 25% after TOP and 15% at completion.
Last verified 20 Oct 2026
Source: Executive Condominium Housing Scheme Regulations 2016 (Singapore Statutes Online, Attorney-General's Chambers), Current version as at 20 Oct 2026. Extracted 20 Oct 2026.
If you already own an HDB flat, this checklist is not your route: see buying an EC before selling your HDB. One HDB upgrader's move is recorded in 635B Senja Road to Copen Grand; it was an HDB owner's case, not a first-time buyer's.
What is and is not confirmed about the project itself is in Solano Grand at Senja Close.
Case studies and videos where this decision came up.
Case study
Step 1: Challenge
So the sale had to meet the bridging loan's timeline, while the family still needed somewhere to live until Copen Grand was ready.
Step 2: Strategy
The bridging loan's timeline set when the flat had to be sold.
Step 3: Result
The flat was sold for S$642,000.
Read the case study
Video · Market analysis
A consortium of UOL, SingLand and CapitaLand placed the top bid of $1.425 billion, or $1,537 per square foot per plot ratio, for the New Upper Changi Road site.
Watch
Video · Buyer education
For parents planning a move before Primary 1 registration, James sets out the full timeline: sell, buy, move and settle in, all before registration opens.
Watch
Video · HDB
Private property owners and former owners no longer have to wait 15 months before buying a non-subsidised HDB resale flat, as long as they do not take an HDB housing loan.
Watch
HDB's process lists cashier's order, cheque and bank transfers for the 5% option fee, and CPF Ordinary Account savings or cash for the 15% balance downpayment. Ask CPF Board before booking if you hope to use CPF for any part of the first 5%.
If that purchase was a housing subsidy, you are a first-timer and second-timer couple: up to $15,000 for citizens, and the second-timer pays any resale levy that applies.
A checklist, not advice on your household's eligibility or loan: HDB, the developer and your bank decide those.
Rules change. Each rule shows the date it was last checked against the official page.
Housing & Development Board · Period: Last updated 25 Aug 2026 · Extracted 20 Oct 2026
Eligibility for Buying an Executive Condominium.
Housing & Development Board · Period: Last updated 24 Aug 2026 · Extracted 20 Oct 2026
CPF Housing Grant for an Executive Condominium.
Housing & Development Board · Period: Last updated 8 Mar 2026 · Extracted 20 Oct 2026
Process for Buying an Executive Condominium.
Singapore Statutes Online, Attorney-General's Chambers · Period: Current version as at 20 Oct 2026 · Extracted 20 Oct 2026
Payment Schedule, Form 2 clause 5.1.
Monetary Authority of Singapore · Period: Last revised 16 Dec 2021 · Extracted 20 Oct 2026
Monetary Authority of Singapore · Period: LTV limits for options granted on or after 6 Jul 2018 · Extracted 20 Oct 2026
Singapore Statutes Online, Attorney-General's Chambers · Period: Current version as at 15 Oct 2026 · Extracted 20 Oct 2026
Rules 4 and 5(a).
Wong Say Tian (James) · CEA Reg. No. R007728G · +65 9696 9567 · PropNex Realty Pte Ltd · Licence No. L3008022J
General information only, not financial, legal or tax advice. Figures reflect the data period shown and may since have changed; your own circumstances will differ. Full disclaimer.
Guide
Confirmed: Solano Grand, a 99-year EC at Senja Close, Bukit Panjang. HDB's tender closed on 5 August 2025 and URA's land sales map records the award to CDL Constellation Pte. Ltd.
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