JY and his wife had already ruled out a few things by the time they sat down to compare Executive Condominiums (ECs). A Build-To-Order (BTO) flat was off the table, since their combined income sat just above the income ceiling. A full-fledged private condo was off the table too, since the monthly repayment would have stretched their finances further than they wanted.
An EC was the obvious middle ground, and they wanted one in the East.
That search eventually came down to two names:
Coastal Cabana in Pasir Ris, already in its preview phase by December 2025, and Rivelle in Tampines, a project that was expected to launch a few months later.
JY and his wife had to decide whether to commit to Coastal Cabana or hold out for Rivelle.
They chose not to wait, which turned out to be fortunate.
Rivelle drew more than 8,000 visitors over its first preview weekend, when it finally launched in March 2026. 92.5% of its 572 units sold on day one, among the best EC launch-day showings since Hundred Palms Residences in 2017.
"Rivelle's ballot was expected to be fierce, so even with a decent queue number, there was no guarantee we'd get the unit type we wanted before it sold out," JY says.
"We decided on Coastal Cabana only after its launch day. By the time we committed, there was still a good number of three-bedroom units left, so we didn't have to depend on another round of luck," he added.
New EC launches in the East are quite rare. Coastal Cabana, developed by Qingjian Realty in a joint venture with Forsea Holdings, ZACD Group and Jianan Capital, is the first new EC to launch on Jalan Loyang Besar in more than 12 years since Sea Horizon in 2013.
The 748-unit project sits on a 99-year leasehold site and is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2029.
Coastal Cabana launched for sale on 17th January 2026, moving 496 units, or 66% of the project, on its first day, at an average price of $1,734 psf. Three-bedroom units had been indicatively priced from $1.438 million, or about $1,649 psf, during the preview period the month before; impressively affordable for the property market then and now.
For JY and his wife though, the pull wasn't just affordability. Both of their families live in the East, and staying close by meant day-to-day interaction and family gatherings. Pasir Ris Beach and Pasir Ris Park sit a short walk from the site, which suited a couple who wanted an outdoor-heavy, slower-paced lifestyle over a more central address.
"Staying close to family in the East was non-negotiable for us," JY says. "Between Downtown East for our dining and groceries, and the beach and the park right there, we're not short of anything close by."
Downtown East also sits just a short stroll away from the project, covering most of the daily dining, grocery, and entertainment needs.
Timing mattered too. Coastal Cabana's launch predates a round of changes to the EC scheme that took effect on 8th May 2026: the policy change introduced a 10-year Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) and removed the Deferred Payment Scheme (DPS) for any EC built on land tendered after that date.
Because its site was awarded before then, Coastal Cabana qualifies for the older five-year MOP, and still offers buyers the DPS option.
At the point JY and his wife were deciding, Coastal Cabana was also the only EC actually on sale anywhere in the East. Waiting meant betting on Rivelle, which didn't exist yet, against the project that was already in front of them.
Why The Three-bedroom Premium + Study Layout
With the decision made for Coastal Cabana, the unit type was the next pressing concern.
A four-bedroom unit was excluded from the start, a casualty of the 30% Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) cap that applies to HDB properties.
(An EC is an HDB property until full privatisation, which would be after the 10th year for Coastal Cabana).
"A four-bedroom quantum would have meant topping up a lot more in cash upfront due to the 30% MSR," JY says. "That would have stretched our finances too thin."
That left a choice between the Three-bedroom Premium (C2) and the Three-bedroom Premium + Study (C3) layout.
Both these units are 915 sq ft, so the decision came down to how the floor area was divided up.
The standard Premium layout keeps a larger common bathroom, a study alcove and an extra WC near the kitchen.
The Premium + Study sees a more compact common bathroom and gives up the alcove and extra WC for a fully enclosed study.
JY and his wife picked the enclosed study, but they intend to use it for different purposes. They’re converting it into a walk-in wardrobe, which will be conveniently located next to the master ensuite.
This is the same layout the showflat's interior designers used, transforming the enclosed study into a dressing area with a vanity.
"We wanted more space than what the three-bedder gives, without paying what a four-bedder costs," JY says. "The extra study space, even if it’s converted, felt like the best use of the layout."
An Appeal That Took Six Months
JY and his wife's combined household income sat slightly above the $16,000 ceiling that applied to EC purchases at the time, which meant their application was automatically kicked into an appeal process.
The appeal itself runs in two stages. A buyer applies first, and the developer decides whether to forward the case to HDB for an official review.
Qingjian got back to JY and his wife within a week to accept the case and send it on.
"After that, it was entirely in HDB's hands, and there wasn't much visibility into timing," JY says. "I've since read online that it's fairly common for developers to sit on these appeals a while, collecting a batch of letters before sending them in together, so we couldn't even tell if ours went in early or late."
They applied in mid-January 2026 and weren't approved until 29 Jul, slightly more than six months later. Their agent had told them a typical appeal clears in two to four months, which puts theirs well past the usual wait.
"The hardest part wasn't the appeal itself, it was not knowing how long it would take," JY says. "Our agent just kept telling us no news is good news."
Gathering the supporting paperwork was its own project. The back-and-forth with HDB meant JY and his wife kept having to round up more supporting documents as the process dragged on.
Alongside the appeal, they also had to plan for the EC's heavier upfront cost. Unlike a BTO flat, an EC purchase calls for a larger initial downpayment, and the couple had to balance how much to draw from CPF against how much to keep in cash.
The income ceiling they were appealing against has since been raised, by the way. HDB raised the EC income ceiling from $16,000 to $18,000 in August 2026, alongside a corresponding increase for BTO flats. Had JY and his wife applied just a few months later, they might not have needed the appeal at all.
A New Show Unit For The Three-bedroom Premium Layout
JY and his wife weren't alone in picking the Premium + Study. Of the project's 165 units in that layout, just six remain unsold, scattered across four of the project's 16 blocks. That's more than 96% taken up, making it the fastest-selling layout in the entire development.
The Three-bedroom Premium has moved slower in comparison: 87 of its 139 units are still available.
Qingjian has since renovated its three-bedroom show unit from the Premium + Study (C3) into the Premium (C2) layout instead, so buyers can better visualise how the same 915 sq ft plays out differently.
There's also the Three-bedroom Deluxe, the smallest of all the layouts in the project, at 872 sq ft. 26 of these 46 units remain unsold.
The Developer Is Offering Discounts
As of its latest price list, Coastal Cabana has 119 three-bedroom units left across 15 of its 16 blocks. Block 20 alone has sold out entirely.
Qingjian is currently offering a discount on all of them till the end of 2026: $10,000 off the Deluxe units and $12,000 off the Premium and Premium + Study units, applied to both the normal and deferred payment prices.
After the discount, Deluxe units start from $1.54 million, and Premium units start from $1.57 million.
Across all 119 remaining three-bedders, net prices land between $1.54 million and $1.68 million, averaging $1,791 psf.
That average is still about 3.3% above the $1,734 psf the project averaged on its first day of sales in January.
Set against where new ECs are headed, that discounted price starts to look attractive.
For example, the latest Canberra Drive EC site, tendered on 1st October, drew a record $825 psf ppr land rate, well above the roughly $728 psf ppr Coastal Cabana's site fetched. Analysts expect the Canberra Drive project to launch from $1,900 psf when it hits the market, with some flagging $2,000 psf as within reach.
Against that pricing, Coastal Cabana's discounted $1,791 psf is well under where the next EC is expected to land.
The scarcity that shaped JY and his wife's decision hasn't gone anywhere either. Rivelle is sold out, and no new EC sites have been confirmed anywhere in the East; for now, Coastal Cabana is the only remaining EC option.
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