Both my girlfriend and I are earning about mid $3000 a month. Would it be a stretch to go for an EA or EC? Or should we stick to a BTO, then upgrade later?


Assuming you are both earning about $3500 and age 25-30 with no outstanding loan,

HDB Loan: Max loan of $419,000 (90% of property price) which translates to a property price of $465,000 if you are taking 90% loan and 10% CPF/Cash.
Bank Loan: Max loan of $419,000 (75% of property price) which translates to a property price of $558,000 if you are taking 75% loan, 20% CPF and 5% Cash.
I assume you would use the CPF Housing Grant to offset/partially pay the CPF portion in the payment. (ie. $40,000 CPF Housing Grant for both Singapore Citizens for 5 room and bigger HDB resale)
From this calculation, EA is a viable option if you are comfortable with the locations which are further away from the city. However, you would need to prepare more cash savings or CPF OA if you intend to purchase an average EA that cost more than $600K.
EC Affordability
There is no outstanding new ECs in the market and the next launch would be next year in Sumang (Punggol). For the past 2 launches, there are no 2 Bedrooms so the most affordable option is a 3 Bedroom unit.
The lowest price unit from the last launch (Rivercove Residences in Sengkang) was $830,000. Rivercove land bid price was $355psf while the next EC launch's (Sumang Walk/Punggol) land bid price was $583psf.
We would expect this EC price of a 3 Bedroom to be at least $9xxK.
(You can only apply for a bank loan for EC)
Bank Loan: $467,000 (75% of property price) which translates to a property price of $622,000 if you're taking 75% loan, 20% CPF OA & 5% Cash. You would be eligible for $30,000 CPF housing grant if both you and your partner are both Singapore Citizens and I assume you would use it to partially pay the 20% CPF portion.
From the above calculation, I would not advise you to go for an EC as you would need a combined cash/CPF OA savings of more than $400K (ie. $9xxK - $467,000 - $30,000).
As a rule of thumb, usually, we advise couples with more than combined monthly income of $8000 to consider for EC unless you have cash savings or financial support from your parents.

https://seedly.sg/questions/both-my-...-upgrade-later