Singapore government tightens property curbs to combat rising prices
- The Singapore government has raised the stamp duty for private home sales to curb rising property prices.
- The new tax for properties sold within one year is now 16%, and the holding period is extended to four years.
- These measures aim to address the increase in subsales and are expected to have a muted impact on genuine home buyers.
On July 4, 2025, Singapore implemented new measures aimed at curbing the soaring home prices in its highly competitive property market. The government introduced a significant increase in the stamp duty for investors who sell their private homes within a shorter holding period. Under the new regulations, which took effect immediately, the tax for selling a property within one year is elevated to 16%, up from the previous rate of 12%. Additionally, the duration during which sellers must hold on to their homes before incurring the stamp duty has been extended from three to four years. The introduction of these measures comes in response to a notable surge in subsales, a trend where uncompleted residential developments are sold quickly for profit. According to data, subsales rose dramatically from just 198 transactions in 2020 to 1,428 transactions by 2024. Leonard Tay, the research head at Knight Frank in Singapore, highlighted that the government’s decision to intensify the seller’s stamp duty rates and increase the holding period is a proactive move to mitigate the risks of subsales pushing property prices higher. Despite the fact that new private home sales have seen a recent drop to a five-month low as of May, the resilience of home prices is evident, with an increase of 0.5% recorded in the second quarter compared to the previous three months. The government has been consistently implementing various cooling measures, such as augmented levies on foreign buyers, a strategy initiated back in 2023 to keep housing costs in check against escalating market pressures. Some analysts, like Vijay Natarajan from RHB Investment Bank, maintain that the overall impact of the recent curbs on the housing market is likely to be muted. They argue that most buyers involved in new launches are genuine homeowners, not speculative investors. Furthermore, the availability of new home supply over recent years, combined with fluctuating macroeconomic conditions, has decreased the incentive for speculative purchasing in the market. Several developers, responding to a slowdown in new launches, have unveiled new projects such as Frasers Property's The Robertson Opus and City Developments' Zyon Grand, both of which are set for prominence in central locations in Singapore.