To ease affordability for locals and cool the red-hot housing market, Singapore has doubled its tax rate for foreign property buyers.
TWC – Singapore’s government is implementing measures to cool its red-hot housing market, including increasing property taxes to ease locals’ affordability and maintain its financial hub competitiveness. In a statement, the government announced that it would increase stamp duties for second-home buyers and foreigners purchasing private property. The tax rate for foreigners buying any home will double from 30% to 60%. These measures followed tax increases in December 2021 and a tightening of home-loan limits in September 2022. However, property prices continued to rise despite these measures, prompting the latest tax hike. As a result of this announcement, shares of Singapore developers fell. Citigroup Inc analyst Brandon Lee described the hike as “draconian” in a note, although it was not entirely surprising. Singapore’s exuberant property market has also led to a rent surge, pushing the city-state above New York as the world’s most expensive city for ex-pats.