Below is a comprehensive view of the latest government policies related to the residential property market. These policies are often referred to as the 'Property Market Cooling Measures'.

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A Brief Summary of Cooling Measures

1. Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD)

Citizenship	ABSD Rate on Primary Home Purchase	ABSD Rate on Secondary Home Purchase	ABSD Rate on Tertiary & Subsequent Purchase
Singapore Citizens	N/A	0% revised to 7%	3% revised to 10%
Permanent Residents	0% revised to 5%	3% revised to 10%	3% revised to 10%
Foreigners1 and non-individuals	10% revised to 15%	10% revised to 15%	10% revised to 15%

Note:1.Citizens of the USA, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland will be treated the same as Singapore Citizens due to FTA agreement.

2. Sellers' Stamp Duty (SSD)

Residential Property Sold In	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4
SSD Rate since Feb 2010	Same as basic Buyer Stamp Duty	N/A	N/A	N/A
SSD Rate since Aug 2010	Same as basic Buyer Stamp Duty	2/3 of basic Buyer Stamp Duty	1/3 of basic Buyer Stamp Duty	N/A
SSD Rate since Jan 2011	16%	12%	8%	4%

3. Loan-to-Value (LTV) Ratio

Source: SRX / StreetSine

Policy Details

Effective Date	Major Cooling Measures that Affect Residential Property Market
9 December, 2013	1. Reduction of Cancellation Fees From 20% to 5% for Executive Condominiums.
	2. Resale Levy for Second-Timer Applicants - Formerly second timers are not required to pay a levy. This is applicable to only new EC land sales which are launched on or after 9th December 2013.
	3. Revision of Mortgage Loan Terms - From a previous mortgage servicing ratio (MSR) level of 60% to now 30% of a borrower's gross monthly income. The MSR cap will apply to EC purchases from 10th December 2013 onwards.
27 August, 2013	1. Singapore Permanent Resident Households need to wait three years from the date of obtaining SPR status, before they can buy a resale HDB flat.
	2. Maximum tenure for HDB housing loans is reduced from 30 years to 25 years. The Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) limit is reduced from 35% to 30% of the borrower's gross monthly income.
	3. Maximum tenure of new housing loans and re-financing facilities granted by financial institutions for the purchase of HDB flats (including DBSS flats) is reduced from 35 years to 30 years. News loans with tenure exceeding 25 years and up to 30 years will be subject to tighter LTV limits.
29 June, 2013	1. TDSR: Financial institutions are required to consider borrowers' other outgoing debt obligations when granting property loans. His total monthly repayments of his debt obligations should not exceed 60 per cent of his gross monthly income.
29 June, 2013	2. In particular, MAS requires: -borrowers named on a property loan to be the mortgagors of the residential property for which the loan is taken; -"guarantors" who are standing guarantee for borrowers otherwise assessed by the financial institutions at the point of application for the housing loan not to meet the TDSR threshold for a property loan to be brought in as co-borrowers; and -in the case of joint borrowers, that financial institutions use the income-weighted average age of borrowers when applying the rules on loan tenure.
12 January, 2013	1. ABSD: Citizens pay 7/10% on second/third purchase (from 0/3%); Permanent Residents (PR) pay 5/10% for first/second purchase (from 0/3%); foreigners and non-individuals now pay 15%.
	2. LTV for second/third loan now 50/40% from 60%; non-individuals' LTV now 20% (from 40%).
	3. Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR) for HDB loans now capped at 35% of gross monthly income (from 40%); MSR for loans from financial institutions capped at 30%.
	4. PRs no longer allowed to rent out entire HDB flat.
6 October, 2012	1. Mortgage tenures capped at a maximum of 35 years.
	2. For loans longer than 30 years or for loans that extend beyond retirement age of 65 years: LTV lowered to 60% for first mortgage and to 40% for second and subsequent mortgages.
	3. LTV for non-individuals lowered to 40%.
8 December, 2011	1. ABSD introduced for further cooling measures: - Foreigners and non-individuals pay 10%, PRs buying second and subsequent property pay 3%, Singaporeans buying third and subsequent property pay 3%.
8 December, 2011	2. Developers purchasing more than four residential units and following through on intention to develop residential properties for sale would be waived ABSD - To qualify, developers have to produce proof of development and sale within five years.
14 January, 2011	1. Holding period for imposition of SSD increased to four years from three.
	2. SSD rates raised to 16%, 12%, 8% and 4% of consideration.
	3. LTV lowered to 60% from 70% for second property.
	4. LTV for non-individual residential purchasers capped at 50%.
30 August, 2010	1. Holding period for imposition of SSD increased to three years from one.
	2. Minimum cash payments raised to 10% from 5% for buyers with one or more outstanding housing loans.
	3. LTV lowered to 70% from 80% for second properties.
20 February, 2010	1. Introduction of SSD for residential property and land sold within one year of purchase.
20 February, 2010	2. LTV lowered to 80% from 90% on all housing loans except HDB loans.
14 September, 2009	1. Interest absorption scheme (deferment of instalments until TOP) and interest-only housing loans (interest payment only until TOP) were scrapped for all private properties.

PROPERTY LAUNCHES & INVESTMENTS

Property Launches & Investments

Singapore Property Market Cooling Measures

A Brief Summary of Cooling Measures

1. Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD)

2. Sellers' Stamp Duty (SSD)

3. Loan-to-Value (LTV) Ratio

Policy Details

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