Singapore stamp duty for foreign buyers

A foreigner buying any home in Singapore pays 60% additional buyer's stamp duty. That makes renting beat buying unless you hold one of five passports or Singapore permanent residence. On a S$2,000,000 flat that is S$1,200,000, plus S$69,600 of ordinary duty, for S$1,269,600 ($999,700) in all, 63% of the price. Rates have not moved since 27 April 2023.

Current at 9 September 2026. Dollars at SGD 1.27 to US$1, the rate of 8 September 2026.

Your passport decides this, not your budget

Two foreigners can stand in the same showroom on the same day and face a S$1.2 million gap. Trade deals tax some buyers like Singapore citizens on a first home. Everyone else pays 60%. Check your passport before you check a price, and before you commit to moving to Singapore.

The relief reaches nationals of the United States, and nationals and permanent residents of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. CHECK This series has called that "five nationalities" throughout. But the two sides are not equal. The four others reach permanent residents, the US only nationals (IRAS's relief page, read 10 September 2026). That page renders in JavaScript and came back blank in September 2026.

It covers a first home only. CHECK Several 2026-dated guides still print 12% and 15% for a qualifying buyer's second and third homes. Those are pre-December-2021 rates. The ladder since 27 April 2023 is 0%, then 20%, then 30%.

One escape needs neither a passport nor residence. CHECK A first marital home bought jointly by a citizen and a foreign spouse is taxed at the citizen rate. Reports say so (read 10 September 2026). The earlier home must sell within six months. Same IRAS page, blank again.

No approval, no quota, and no landed house

With no minimum price and no quota, any foreigner may buy:

• A unit in a condominium, a private apartment block or an approved mixed development
• A privatised executive condominium at least ten years old
• Any tenure — freehold, 999-year or 99-year

Landed houses, vacant land, strata landed homes, shophouses in residential use and Sentosa Cove properties all need the Land Dealings Approval Unit's consent. That is eleven categories in total. The Unit approves only a permanent resident of five years or more, with an exceptional economic contribution (Singapore Land Authority, read 11 September 2026). Sentosa Cove needs the same approval as everything else on the list. Public flats are closed outright.

The duty on a S$2 million flat is 63% of the price

Basic buyer's stamp duty runs in six bands, from 1% on the first S$180,000 to 6% above S$3,000,000. That scale has held since February 2023. On S$2,000,000 that is S$69,600 ($54,800). The additional duty sits on top, on whichever is higher: price or assessed value. Add S$2,500 to S$4,000 for legal work. The seller usually pays the agent's commission, 1% to 2%.

Rates in force since 27 April 2023, the day the foreigner rate went from 30% to 60%. A second home costs a permanent resident 30% and a citizen 20%. A third or more costs a permanent resident 35% and a citizen 30%. Nothing has been relaxed since (combined from several ministry statements, read 10 September 2026).

No first-home discount exists, and none if you plan to live there yourself. An Employment Pass holder pays the same 60% as a non-resident who has never landed here. Loan limits cap your first mortgage at 75% of value in 2026. The Central Provident Fund is also closed to you. So the duty is cash. Buying through a company or trust only makes it worse, at 65%, with no nominee workaround.

Paying it buys you no right to be here

• No pass, no visa, no residence and no shortcut to permanent residence
• No right to work, and none to local clients
• No bank account. That turns on holding a pass, not on owning a flat
• No public flat, and no executive condominium under ten years old
• No short-term letting. By law, the shortest let is three months in private housing and six in a public flat. Break it and risk a fine of at least S$5,000. Courts can set it higher for a repeat or multi-property offender (Urban Redevelopment Authority, page updated 15 June 2026)

Your right to be here rests on a job. Read the Singapore Employment Pass salary floors before you assume you will be here in year five.

What you owe after the cheque clears

Both duties are e-stamped with IRAS within 14 days of the date on the document, or 30 days if it was signed overseas. A qualifying buyer claims the relief there, as a remission, through the conveyancer.

Seller's stamp duty then bites for four years, on anything bought on or after 4 July 2025, 12.00am.

That schedule comes from a joint release by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and two ministries. It is dated 3 July 2025 (mas.gov.sg, read 10 September 2026). That release added a fourth year and four points to every tier.

Let it out and two more rates land. Property tax on a home you do not live in runs 12% to 36% of annual value, from 12% on the first S$30,000 to 36% above S$60,000 (iras.gov.sg, read 10 September 2026). CHECK Those bands aren't published readably. A non-resident owner pays 24% on the rent (iras.gov.sg, read 10 September 2026).

Tax residency turns on 183 days in the calendar year (iras.gov.sg, read 11 September 2026). File the SG Arrival Card within three days of entry, free. An Employment Pass holder reports an address change within five days, a permanent resident within 28 (Ministry of Manpower; Immigration & Checkpoints Authority).

Overstay adds real penalties: a fine to S$4,000 ($3,150) or six months in jail under 90 days, mandatory jail plus caning beyond it (Immigration Act 1959, section 15(3), Singapore Statutes Online, read 11 September 2026).

Rent instead, unless you qualify for one of two exceptions

Duty is 63% of the price going in. Prices rose 1.4% across the first half of 2026, about 2.8% a year at that pace (Urban Redevelopment Authority, 24 July 2026). That is roughly eighteen years of growth to earn the duty back. The seller's duty holds you for the first four.

So the answer is no. It is loudest for three readers.

• Not a US national, not from the other four, not a permanent resident. Rent. Renting an apartment in Singapore costs about S$7,168 ($5,640) before keys on a S$3,500 flat, on a standard 12-month lease
• Buying to get residence. Malaysia's MM2H is the only property-linked route in this series, from a $150,000 deposit plus RM600,000 of property
• After cheap freehold in your own name. Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai sell freehold condominiums, capped at 49% of a building's floor area, on a 2% transfer fee. Kuala Lumpur charges foreign buyers a flat 8% duty from 1 January 2026

The seven-country ownership table in Living in Southeast Asia 101 sets Singapore beside six neighbours. Each has its own cap and its own catch.

Hold one of those passports, or Singapore permanent residence at 5% on a first home. The sum changes completely. Buying can then make sense. Even then, your right to live here depends on a job. The flat outlasts every pass that let you buy it.

Related

The market behind the duty is priced in buying a condominium in Singapore, against the vacancy rate and the unsold pipeline. If you rent, what a Singapore lease costs before you get keys has the deposit and the 0.4% lease duty. Compare all ten cities on rent, tax and what a foreigner may own.