A foreign person means any person who is not a:

• Singapore citizen
• Singapore company
• Singapore limited liability partnership
• Singapore society

Singapore Permanent Residents (SPR) are also considered foreign persons.

What can properties can foreigners buy?

In general, foreigners can buy commercial and industrial properties, and residential properties except landed residences.

A foreign person can purchase the following types of properties without special approval from the Land Dealings Approval Unit of Singapore Land Authority:

• Condominium unit
• Flat unit
• Strata landed house in an approved condominium development
• A leasehold estate in a landed residential property for a term not exceeding 7 years, including any further term which may be granted by way of an option for renewal
• Shophouse (for commercial use)
• Industrial and commercial properties
• Hotel (registered under the provisions of the Hotels Act)
• Executive condominium unit, HDB flat and HDB shophouse

A foreign person will require approval from the Land Dealings Approval Unit of Singapore Land Authority before they can purchase the following types of properties:

• Vacant residential land
• Terrace house
• Semi-detached house
• Bungalow/detached house
• Strata landed house which is not within an approved condominium development under the Planning Act (eg. townhouse or cluster house)
• Shophouse (for non-commercial use)
• Association premises
• Place of worship
• Worker’s dormitory/service apartments/boarding house (not registered under the provisions of the Hotels Act)

Procedure for purchase of private residential property

Link to new sale guide

Link to resale guide

Permanent Residents buying resale HDB flats

SPRs are eligible to buy HDB flats on the resale market, subject to the HDB Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) and SPR quota.

The Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) helps to maintain a good ethnic mix in HDB estates, thereby helping to promote racial integration and harmony. It applies to all HDB flats.

The Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) quota was implemented to better integrate SPR families into the local community. Malaysians are excluded from this quota because of their close cultural and historical similarities with Singaporeans.

Buyers need to ensure that they are within the EIP proportion for the block/ neighbourhood, and if applicable, the SPR quota as well.

SPR Quota for Non-Malaysian SPR households:

• Neighbourhood: 5%
• Block: 8%

You can use HDB’s e-Service to check if you are eligible to buy an HDB resale flat in a particular block or neighbourhood under the EIP and SPR quota.

The EIP and SPR quota are updated on the 1st of every month, and will apply to all complete resale applications received during that month. The buyers and sellers must meet the eligibility conditions under the EIP and SPR quota at the point of submitting the complete resale application. A resale application is deemed as complete only when HDB receives both the buyers' and sellers' portions of the resale application.

There is no restriction on the sale and purchase of an HDB flat if:

• The proportion of the buyers' ethnic group/ SPR quota is within the prescribed block/ neighbourhood limits
• The buyers and sellers are of the same ethnic group and/ or citizenship type

SPRs are eligible to buy HDB flats on the resale market under the following schemes:

• Public scheme

• Fiance and fiancée scheme

• Non-citizen spouse scheme

• Non-citizen family scheme

SPRs are also eligible to buy Executive Condominiums (EC) from the resale market.

Procedure for purchase of resale HDB flat and resale EC

HDB resale guide

Stamp duty

Stamp duty is payable on the purchase of all properties, within 14 days from the date of exercise of the Option to Purchase (OTP) for completed properties and within 14 days from the date of the Sale and Purchase agreement (S&P).

• Buyer’s Stamp Duty (BSD) is computed based on the purchase price or market value of the property, whichever is higher

• Buyer needs to pay BSD of 1% on the first $180,000, 2% on the next $180,000 and 3% on the remaining amount of the purchase price

• The Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) depends on the buyer’s residency status and number of residential properties owned

• ABSD only applies to residential properties
• Singapore Permanent Residents need to pay 5% ABSD for the purchase of a first residential property and 10% ABSD for the second and subsequent residential property
• Foreigners need to pay a 15% ABSD for any residential property purchased
• Nationals and Permanent Residents of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland; and Nationals of the USA are accorded the same ABSD rates as Singapore citizens
• Singapore citizens need to pay 7% ABSD for the purchase of a second residential property and 10% ABSD for the third and subsequent residential property

Source: SLA, HDB, URA, IRAS, The Edge Property