Budget 2023: Buyer's stamp duties for property purchases to be raised from Feb 15 - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - Buyer’s stamp duties (BSD) for higher-value residential and non-residential properties will be raised with effect from Wednesday, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said in his Budget speech on Tuesday.

This is expected to generate an additional $500 million in revenue a year. But the actual amount will depend on the state of the property market, he said.

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 per cent, while that in excess of $3 million will be taxed at 6 per cent. This is up from the current rate of 4 per cent.

The changes are expected to affect 15 per cent of all 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 per cent, while that in excess of $1.5 million will be taxed at 5 per cent. This is up from the current rate of 3 per cent.

Mr Wong said these changes are expected to affect 60 per cent of non-residential properties, which are commercial or industrial properties.

Additional conveyance duties for buyers, which apply to qualifying purchases of equity interest in property holding entities, will also be raised from up to 44 per cent to up to 46 per cent.

Singapore currently taxes wealth in several ways, including property tax, stamp duties and the additional registration fee for motor vehicles.

The marginal BSD rate was last raised to 4 per cent from 3 per cent for the portion of the residential property value above $1 million in 2018, though there was no change for non-residential properties then.

Based on the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s 2022 data, nearly 55 per cent of all private residential transactions were worth at least $1.5 million, while 15.4 per cent were worth at least $3 million.

About 39.2 per cent were valued at between $1.5 million and $3 million, according to OrangeTee & Tie’s senior vice-president of research and analytics Christine Sun.

About 50 per cent of transactions may be affected by the increased BSD, using last year’s data as an indication, she said.

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