Nexus Mortgage SG  ·  16 June 2026  ·  9-minute read

Lentor Gardens Residences (2026): The Cheapest Land in Lentor — and How to Finance the Launch

By Dan Ler, Mortgage Advisor

The Headline: Cheapest Land in the Lentor Cycle

Seven projects have launched out of Lentor since 2021. Lentor Gardens Residences stands out for one number, and it is the land. Kingsford paid about S$429.23m for the site, which works out to roughly S$920 per square foot per plot ratio (psf ppr). Going by URA's land-sales records, that is the cheapest land any developer has paid in the whole estate.

Now look at what came right after. The next Lentor plot was tendered in March 2026 at a record S$1,278 psf ppr, about 39% dearer than Lentor Gardens paid. Land is usually the biggest line in a developer's costs, so coming in around S$360 psf ppr below the newest site leaves real room to price lower. That is the part worth paying attention to.

Why a Low Land Cost Matters to a Buyer

So what does cheaper land actually mean for you? A few things.

• The developer can hit its margin at a lower price. The early reads put Lentor Gardens at or below its newer neighbours rather than above them, which is not what you usually see from the latest launch in an estate that has been climbing.
• It gives you a reference point. The next Lentor project is tipped to open near S$2,700 psf off that record land. Buy here around S$2,150 psf and you are holding the cheaper entry in the same pocket, and that gap tends to help when you come to sell.
• Lentor is built up now, not a promise. Lentor MRT on the Thomson–East Coast Line, the mall at Lentor Modern, an on-site childcare centre, and schools like Anderson Primary and CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' are already here. That counts for something when nearly half the units are 3- and 4-bedders meant for families.

I am not telling you it can only go up. Resale depends on the wider market, how long you hold, and cooling measures like Seller's Stamp Duty and ABSD. But the land gap is real and you can put a number on it, so it is a sensible place to start before you size the loan.

Indicative Pricing, and How to Read It

Real prices only come at launch. For now the market is guessing somewhere around S$2,100 to S$2,350 psf on average, which would put Lentor Gardens in line with or just under Lentor Mansion (about S$2,257 psf) and Lentor Central Residences (about S$2,200 psf).

What the developer's info kit does confirm is the unit mix and the sizes; only the price list is still to come. Put the ~S$2,150 psf estimate against those confirmed sizes and you get rough planning numbers. Use them to size yourself, then check against the real list on launch day:

*Indicative only, at the ~S$2,150 psf market estimate — confirmed prices are released at launch. Unit mix and sizes per the developer's preliminary info kit (Apr 2026).

One thing stands out for financing: this is a two-bedder project. 252 of the 499 units, just over half, are 2-bedrooms. So most of the stock sits in the ~S$1.4M to S$1.6M range, which is where the cash and the income TDSR asks for are easiest to meet. If you are after a compact own-stay or a sensible investment unit, you have plenty to pick from. The 105 four-bedders are the ones that will run short.

Financing a Lentor Gardens Unit: the 75% LTV Math

This is private property, so you are on a bank loan. No HDB concessionary rate, no MSR cap, just MAS Notice 645 TDSR at 55% of your gross monthly income. You can borrow up to 75% on a first property, over a tenure that stops at 30 years or your 65th birthday, whichever comes first.

Upfront cash and stamp duty

On an illustrative S$2.04M (~3-bedroom) unit:

• 5% cash booking fee (~S$102,000) — on Option to Purchase exercise.
• 20% cash or CPF (~S$408,000) — on Sale & Purchase signing.
• Buyer's Stamp Duty (~S$71,600 on S$2.04M) — within 14 days of OTP. IRAS BSD schedule.
• ABSD if applicable — 20% for Singapore Citizens on a second residential property, higher for PRs and foreigners. IRAS ABSD schedule.
• 75% bank loan (~S$1.53M) — disbursed progressively through construction.

CPF and the long-tail cost

CPF Ordinary Account money can go towards the cash-or-CPF portion and your monthly instalments, within the usual limits (see the CPF Home Ownership portal). Just remember every OA dollar you use keeps accruing 2.5% a year, compounded monthly, until you sell. So decide how much to draw up front instead of emptying the account on day one.

Progressive Payments Through Construction

As a Building-Under-Construction (BUC) project, Lentor Gardens uses the Normal Payment Scheme: the bank disburses your loan in stages as the developer hits construction milestones, not as a lump sum. The schedule is statutory:

Your instalment climbs in steps as the loan draws down. In the early stages it is small, because the bank only charges interest on the 10 to 20% that has been disbursed. By TOP you are paying on the full loan. So work out the TOP-stage instalment now, not the day-one one, because that is what you carry for the next 25 to 30 years. We set out the full schedule, with a cashflow worksheet, in the Singapore Mortgage Free Report, and cover the general approach in the new-launch financing guide.

TDSR & the 4% Stress Test by Quantum

MAS makes every bank test your loan at a 4% medium-term rate, whatever rate you actually take. Your borrowing limit is worked out at that 4%, not at the SORA-pegged rate you will really start on (today well under 2% a year), and the 55% TDSR cap is applied to that stressed figure.

Indicative monthly stress-test instalments at 4% over 30 years, by loan quantum:

That 30-year column assumes you are 35 or younger when you buy, since the longest tenure that still allows 75% LTV needs the loan to finish by age 65. In your 40s you either shorten the tenure to fit that rule, which lifts the instalment, or take 55% LTV and put 45% down in cash or CPF.

And those income floors are before any other debt. Car loans, credit-card minimums and personal-loan instalments all come off your 55% headroom first. Bonus and self-employed income get haircut too (see the self-employed TDSR guide). For joint applicants, pledge funds and income-weighted-average-age tenure, the TDSR & MSR breakdown and the MAS 4% stress-test guide go deeper.

IPA Timing: Book the Loan, Not Just the Unit

The OTP clock is tight. You pay a 1% option fee to book, get 21 days to decide, and lose it if you back out. An In-Principle Approval, worked out against your real income documents, is what protects that money. Skip it and your deposit is exposed if a bank turns the loan down later.

A broker can usually turn an IPA around in about two weeks by sending your file to several banks at once instead of one after another. At a Lentor launch the best-priced stacks tend to go first, so having the IPA ready is what gets you the unit you want rather than what is left.

The Rate Decision for a BUC Purchase: Floating Now, Fixed Later

Here is the part people get wrong: a new-launch loan is floating-rate. The bank prices the progressive-disbursement loan off SORA, usually 1-month or 3-month Compounded SORA plus a spread. Fixed-rate packages are sold on completed properties, so they are simply not available while Lentor Gardens is being built. The fixed-versus-floating debate does not apply yet. During construction your only real choice is which floating package, and fixed comes back on the table at completion. Lock on the day, since SORA moves daily (here is the live rate comparison).

Over the 3 to 4 years of construction, two things are going on:

1. The loan is only part-drawn, so a SORA move on 20 to 30% of it costs you far less in dollars than the same move on the full amount. What matters at this stage is the spread, the lock-in and the free-conversion terms, not fixed versus floating.
2. Once the project is finished it counts as completed property, and the full menu, fixed packages included, opens up. Now the whole loan is drawn and you are paying the full instalment, which is the rate that really matters for the next 25-plus years.

So the sensible move is a floating package with good conversion or repricing terms now, then reprice or refinance at TOP, into fixed if you want certainty or a tighter floating spread if SORA is working for you. A lot of new-launch packages throw in a free conversion that makes that switch cheaper, so read the conversion terms, not just the headline rate.

Three Moves Before You OTP

1. Check your TDSR at the tier you actually want. The income floor for a 2-bedder and a 4-bedder is roughly S$7,000 a month apart, so run your affordability check at the 4% floor and buy what clears, not what a good bonus year makes look possible.
2. Get your IPA sorted, usually about two weeks. An independent IPA across several banks at once protects your 1% option fee and keeps you in the allocation you want.
3. Plan around the TOP-stage instalment, not the booking one. Build the progressive schedule at the 4% floor and make sure the full-loan instalment still works if things turn.
4. Take the worksheet. The Singapore Mortgage Free Report has the BUC timeline, a 16-bank rate comparison, the TDSR/MSR check at the 4% floor, your upfront costs (BSD/ABSD/legal) and the refinance-at-TOP plan, all in one PDF.

About the author — Dan Ler has advised on Singapore home loans since 2017 at Nexus Mortgage SG, an independent brokerage comparing 16+ MAS-regulated lenders across residential, commercial and new-launch financing. Banks pay Nexus on disbursement, so there is no cost to the borrower.

Nexus Mortgage SG is an independent Singapore mortgage advisory. This article is general information, not financial or investment advice. Lentor Gardens Residences land cost is based on publicly reported Government Land Sales; unit count, mix, sizes and tenure are from the developer's preliminary info kit (30 April 2026); selling prices are indicative market estimates as of June 2026 and are confirmed by the developer at launch. All loan, TDSR, BSD and ABSD figures are illustrative and reflect MAS, IRAS, URA and CPF positions as of publication; rules and bank rates can change. Sources: URA Government Land Sales, MAS Notice 645 (TDSR), IRAS BSD, IRAS ABSD, CPF Home Ownership.