
Singapore private property owners who sell homes within 4 years must pay seller's stamp duty
The seller's stamp duty (SSD) holding period will increase to four years, up from three years.
The SSD rates will also increase by 4 percentage points for each tier of the holding period, the ministry said.These changes will take effect for all residential properties purchased on and after Jul 4, 12am.
The revised SSD will not affect HDB owners due to the Minimum Occupation Period for HDB flats, MND said.
The SSD is payable by those who sell a residential property within a specified period after purchase.
In 2017, this period was reduced from four to three years, and the SSD rates were also reduced by four percentage points for each tier of the holding period, said MND.
In recent years, the number of private residential property transactions with short holding periods has increased sharply. In particular, there has been a significant increase in the sub-sale of units that have not been completed, it added.
Therefore, the government will revert to the pre-2017 SSD holding period of four years, and raise the SSD rates by four percentage points for each tier of the holding period, it said.
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She suggested that the policy changes were introduced as a preventive measure to limit speculative growth, since more condominiums are due to obtain their temporary occupation permit (TOP). The number of sub-sale transactions might rise in line with the anticipated increase in private residential units securing TOP, which is projected to grow from 5,920 units in 2025 to 6,838 units in 2026 and further to 10,306 units in 2027, Ms Sun said. She also noted that several new projects are expected to be launched in the coming months. Lower interest rates will make housing loans more affordable, which in turn may spur more buying activity, she added. Huttons Asia's Mr Lee said that the tighter rules will reduce the number of sub-sales in the market, with the proportion likely to go below 2 per cent starting from 2026. "The buyers who would otherwise have bought a sub-sale unit will buy from the new sale market now as the number of sub-sale listings will reduce," he said. ERA's Mr Chu said that buyers have become more cautious alongside rising economic uncertainty in recent months, and more now see property as a long-term investment. He noted that even without the revision, higher costs from elevated interest rates and property taxes have eroded profits, likely resulting in investors holding properties for more than three years. "Since most homebuyers are genuine owner-occupiers or longer-term investors, this measure is a gentle touch rather than a heavy-handed approach on the overall market. It aims to stabilise any spikes caused by short-term investors. "It is not designed to crack down on the market but to reduce the froth from investors who sell shortly after the third year."


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