During his Budget speech on Tuesday (Feb 14), Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that the Singaporean government will increase the buyer’s stamp duty rate for higher-value residential and non-residential properties. Buyer’s stamp duty is the tax that individuals have to pay on documents signed when they purchase or acquire property in Singapore. The updated rates for homes will be 5% for the portion of the value in excess of S$1.5 million and up to S$3 million, up from the current rate of 4%. Properties with a value of more than S$3 million will be taxed at 6%. The new rates will be applicable to all properties acquired from Wednesday. The government expects the changes to impact 15% of homes.

The current stamp duty rates will continue to apply to cases where the Option to Purchase (OTP) was granted on or before Feb 14, and the OTP must be exercised on or before Mar 7, or within the OTP validity period, without any changes made from Feb 15 onwards. For non-residential properties, the updated rates will be 4% for the portion of the value in excess of S$1 million and up to S$1.5 million, and 5% for the portion in excess of S$1.5 million, up from the current rate of 3%.

These changes are expected to affect 60% of non-residential properties and are projected to generate an additional S$500 million in revenue per year, depending on the state of the property market.

Additionally, the Ministry of Finance stated that the Additional Conveyance Duties for Buyers, which applies to acquisitions of stakes in property holding entities, will be raised from up to 44% to up to 46%.