Insights
The rules, checked against the rules
Singapore property policy changes several times a year, and most of what is published online is quietly out of date. Everything here is checked against IRAS, MAS, HDB, CPF Board and URA directly, carries its sources, and shows the date it was last verified. If you find something wrong, tell me and I will fix it.
- 8 min read
ABSD in Singapore: the full rate table, who pays what, and the remissions worth knowing
ABSD rates have not moved since 27 April 2023. A citizen pays nothing on a first property, 20% on a second and 30% on a third. Permanent residents pay 5% / 30% / 35%. Foreigners pay 60% on any residential purchase, unless a free trade agreement applies.
Verified
- 5 min read
Seller’s Stamp Duty is now a four-year problem, not a three-year one
For residential property bought on or after 4 July 2025, Seller’s Stamp Duty is 16% in year one, 12% in year two, 8% in year three and 4% in year four. Property bought before that date stays on the old three-year, 12/8/4 schedule.
Verified
- 7 min read
Decoupling in Singapore: what it costs, and the condition that stops most of them
Decoupling transfers one co-owner’s share to the other, so the exiting owner counts as a first-time buyer again for ABSD. The arithmetic almost always works. What stops it is TDSR — the remaining owner has to service the entire loan alone.
Verified
- 9 min read
Using CPF for property: the limits, the retirement sum, and the interest that follows you
CPF usage is capped by the Valuation Limit — the lower of price or valuation — and extends to 120% of it only once you have set aside your retirement sum. Everything you withdraw accrues 2.5% a year, compounded, and comes back to CPF rather than to you when you sell.
Verified
- 8 min read
TDSR and MSR: the two ratios that decide what you can actually buy
TDSR caps total monthly debt at 55% of gross income, stress-tested at a 4% rate floor rather than the rate you are quoted. MSR adds a 30% cap for HDB flats and ECs bought from a developer. In most upgrader households TDSR binds before the loan-to-value limit does — which means income, not equity, is the constraint.
Verified
- 7 min read
The 15-month wait-out period is gone: what private property owners buying an HDB resale flat need to know
From 28 July 2026, private property owners and ex-owners can buy a non-subsidised HDB resale flat with no wait-out period at all — provided they do not take an HDB housing loan. The 30-month wait-out still applies to subsidised flats, ECs from a developer, and HDB loans.
Verified
- 6 min read
Executive Condominiums now come in two versions, and the difference is five years
Executive Condominiums on land tendered on or after 8 May 2026 have a 10-year Minimum Occupation Period and privatise in the 15th year. ECs already tendered keep the 5-year MOP and 10-year privatisation. The Deferred Payment Scheme has also been abolished for uncompleted ECs.
Verified
- 8 min read
Thomson Reserve: what a $1,178 psf ppr land rate tells you before the developer says anything
Thomson Reserve is 1,268 units on the former Thomson View site, from UOL, CapitaLand and Singapore Land, expected October 2026. The developer has released no pricing. What is public is the land rate — $1,178 psf ppr, the cheapest of the 2026 Rest of Central Region cohort — and that constrains the answer more than most people realise.
Verified
- 6 min read
Singapore property, 2Q2026: private prices up 0.5%, HDB resale down for a second quarter
Private residential prices rose 0.5% in 2Q2026 to an index of 219.4, driven entirely by landed property at +2.5% while non-landed slipped 0.1%. The HDB resale index fell 0.3% to 202.8, its second consecutive quarterly decline.
Verified
- 8 min read
The URA Master Plan tells you where prices go next. Almost nobody reads it
The URA Master Plan is the statutory land use plan that sets what may be built on every parcel in Singapore and at what intensity, and reading it — plot ratios, zoning changes and the decentralisation strategy — explains most of the price movement that retrospective commentary attributes to luck.
Verified
- 9 min read
Buying property in trust for a child: the 65% you pay first, and how to get it back
Transferring residential property into a living trust triggers ABSD (Trust) of 65%, which must be paid in full upfront — there is no upfront waiver — and remission of the difference must be applied for within six months of executing the instrument, with full remission possible only where the beneficiary holds a vested, unconditional beneficial interest.
Verified
- 8 min read
IRAS caught 166 of 187. The 99-1 arrangement your friend recommended is the one being audited
Decoupling — one co-owner selling their share to the other so a subsequent purchase counts as a first property — is lawful, but the "99-to-1" variant where a buyer takes a 1% sliver purely to spread ABSD was audited by IRAS across 187 cases, 166 of which were found to be tax avoidance under Section 33A of the Stamp Duties Act, attracting the rightful duty plus a 50% surcharge.
Verified
- 6 min read
Why your agent asks where the money came from: AML and CDD in Singapore property
Under the Estate Agents (Prevention of Money Laundering, Proliferation Financing and Terrorism Financing) Regulations 2021, every Singapore salesperson must verify a client’s identity and source of funds, screen them against UN and FATF designated lists, keep the records for at least five years, and file a Suspicious Transaction Report with the STRO where suspicion arises.
Verified
- 10 min read
You cannot sell it yet: the probate trap that costs Singapore families their buyer
A property belonging to someone who has died cannot be sold until the court grants representation — Probate where there is a will, Letters of Administration where there is not — and families who accept an offer before that grant is extracted routinely lose the buyer to the delay.
Verified
- 8 min read
Buying or selling Singapore property without flying in: how a Power of Attorney actually works
An overseas buyer or seller can complete a Singapore property transaction through an attorney appointed under a Power of Attorney, but the instrument must be executed before the correct authority abroad, legalised for use in Singapore, and deposited with the Singapore Academy of Law before it can be relied on at completion.
Verified
- 9 min read
The NRI guide to Singapore property: the $250,000 ceiling, the 20% TCS, and what actually clears
An Indian resident may remit up to USD 250,000 per financial year under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme and may lawfully use it for overseas real estate, but 20% Tax Collected at Source applies above ₹10 lakh, and a foreigner buying Singapore residential property pays 60% ABSD unless a free trade agreement applies — which, for India, it does not.
Verified
- 9 min read
For Chinese families moving to Singapore: schools, status, and the capital question nobody answers honestly
Chinese families buying Singapore residential property face 60% ABSD as foreigners, and China’s USD 50,000 annual foreign exchange quota is a current-account allowance that does not extend to purchasing overseas real estate — so the workable routes are funds already lawfully offshore, Singapore bank financing, or resolving residency status first.
Verified