ADDITIONAL BUYER’S STAMP DUTY
Depending on your residency status and how many residential properties you already own in Singapore, you may also need to pay ABSD when buying residential property in Singapore.
What is considered residential property?
Common residential properties include HDB flats, condominiums, terrace houses, bungalows, HUDC apartments and cluster houses.
HDB shops with living quarters and shop-houses with portions permitted for residential use are also considered residential property for ABSD purposes.
How to calculate ABSD
Just like BSD, the amount of ABSD to be paid is based on the property’s purchase price or market value, whichever is higher.
The ABSD rates are dependent on the buyer’s residency status, i.e. whether you are a Singapore citizen, Singapore Permanent Resident or foreigner.
As of 6 July 2018, the ABSD rates are:
| Buyer’s residency status | ABSD rate on purchase of first property | ABSD rate on purchase of second property | ABSD rate on purchase of third and subsequent property |
| Singapore citizens, and nationals and Permanent Residents of Switzerland, United States of America, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Norway | Not applicable | 12% | 15% |
| Singapore Permanent Residents | 5% | 15% | 15% |
| Foreigners | 20% | 20% | 20% |
You will be regarded as purchasing an additional residential property if you already own a residential property in Singapore (whether you fully, jointly or partially own this first residential property).
Must ABSD always be paid when you buy additional residential properties in Singapore?
There are some situations where you will not have to pay ABSD when buying additional residential properties in Singapore. These include:
- Where you have already contracted to sell your current residential property before signing the Option to Purchase for the new residential property
- If you are downgrading from a private property to a HDB resale flat. This is because you are required to sell your private property within 6 months of completing your purchase of the HDB resale flat.
What if you are buying the property jointly with someone else?
When purchasing a residential property jointly with someone else, check whether different ABSD rates apply to both of you.
If so, the higher ABSD rate will be used to calculate ABSD.
For example, let’s say you and your spouse are intending to jointly purchase a new condominium unit. Both of you are Singapore citizens and own the following properties:
| Your properties | Your spouse’s properties |
| Condominium unit (sole owner) | Condominium unit (sole owner) |
| Terrace house (jointly owned with your parents) | – |
In this case, your spouse’s profile attracts an ABSD rate of 7% but your applicable ABSD rate is 10%. Hence, the ABSD payable for the purchase of the new condominium unit is 10%.