During Singapore's Budget 2023, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced higher marginal buyer stamp duty rates for higher-value residential and non-residential properties will be introduced.
For residential properties, the portion of the value of the property in excess of $1.5 million and up to $3 million will be taxed at 5%, while the portion of the value of the property in excess of $3 million will be taxed at 6%.
The current rate for buyers' stamp duty is up to 4%.
The changes are expected to affect 15% of residential properties.
For non-residential properties, the portion of the value of the property in excess of $1 million and up to $1.5 million will be taxed at 4% while those valued more than $1.5 million will be taxed at 5%.
This is expected to affect 60% of non-residential properties.
The changes will apply to all properties from Feb 15 onwards.
See also: Budget 2023 offers near-term help but maintains fiscal discipline and active wealth distribution
"In essence, the higher buyer’s stamp duty rates for higher-value properties in residential and non-residential properties would result in up to 2% increase in total costs for buyers. On its own, this is unlikely to have a significant impact on the market. However, taking into consideration other earlier wealth taxes and cooling measures for residential properties, as well as higher financing costs for both residential and commercial properties, transaction volumes in both residential and non-residential properties could slow down in the near term. Prices could still be resilient given strong fundamentals of the underlying property sectors," says Tricia Song, head of research, South East Asia, CBRE.
