In December 2006, buyer stamp duty concession was withdrawn and all property buyers had to pay their stamp duties within 14 days of the date of excising their purchase options. During the transition period, buyers who execute their purchase transactions during the month had a three month’s grace period to pay their stamp duty.

In October 2007, a Deferred Payment Scheme introduced by developers, which allowed buyers to defer payments for properties under construction to the date of issue of Temporary Occupation Permit, was disallowed by the government.

In September 2009, an Interest Absorption Scheme introduced by developers, which allowed buyers to transfer their interest-servicing burden on a housing loan to the developers for properties under construction until the completion date, and Interest-only housing loan scheme, which allowed buyers to make only interest payments on their housing loans, were disallowed by the government.

In February 2010, seller stamp duty was re-introduced for the sale of properties within one year of purchase and LTV ratio was lowered back to 80%.

In August 2010, the holding period for seller stamp duty was increased to three years. For borrowers with existing housing loan(s), their LTV ratio was lowered to 70% and the minimum cash-component down-payment was raised to 10% from 5%.

In January 2011, the holding period for seller stamp duty was increased to four years and seller stamp duty rate was increased to 16%, 12%, 8% and 4% for properties sold in the first, second, third, and fourth year, respectively. For borrowers with existing housing loan(s), their LTV ratio was lowered to 60%.

In December 2011, additional buyer stamp duty was imposed; Singapore citizens buying their third and subsequent residential property pay 3%, Singapore permanent residents buying their second and subsequent residential property pay 3%, and foreigners buying their first and subsequent residential property pay 10%.

In October 2012, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposed a 35-year tenor restriction for housing loans on new residential properties. LTV ratio was lowered to 60% for borrowers without any existing housing loan(s) but loan tenors exceed 30-year or extend beyond borrowers’ retirement age of 65 years. LTV ratio was lowered to 40% for borrowers with existing housing loan(s) where the loan tenors exceed 30-year or extend beyond borrowers’ retirement age of 65 years.

In January 2013, additional buyer stamp duty was raised; Singapore citizens buying their second residential property pay 7% and those buying their third and subsequent residential property pay 10%, Singapore permanent residents buying their first residential property pay 5% and those buying their second and subsequent residential property pay 10%, and foreigners buying their first and subsequent residential property pay 15%.
LTV ratio was lowered to 50% and 40% for borrowers applying for their second and third or subsequent housing loan, respectively where loan tenors do not exceed 30-year or do not extend beyond borrowers’ retirement age of 65 years. In cases where loan tenors exceed 30-year or extend beyond borrowers’ retirement age of 65 years, LTV ratios of 30% and 20% apply for borrowers applying for their second and third or subsequent housing loan, respectively. The minimum cash-component down-payment was also raised to 25% from 10% for buyers taking their second or subsequent housing loan.

In June 2013, The MAS introduced the Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) for homebuyers with the intention that the measure “...will help strengthen credit underwriting practices by [financial institutions, FIs] and encourage financial prudence among borrowers.” The TDSR is the total monthly debt service as a percentage of the borrower’s income and is capped at 60%. In computation of TDSR, FIs will need to take into account the monthly repayment for the property loan that the borrower is applying for plus the monthly repayments on all other outstanding property and non-property debt obligations of the borrower; apply a specified medium-term interest rate or the prevailing market interest rate, whichever is higher, to the property loan that the borrower is applying for when calculating the TDSR; apply a haircut of at least 30% to all variable income (e.g. bonuses) and rental income; and apply haircuts to and amortize the value of any eligible financial assets taken into consideration in assessing the borrower’s debt servicing ability in order to convert them into ”income streams”. MAS also required borrowers 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 FI 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 FIs use the income-weighted average age of borrowers when applying the rules on loan tenure.

Effective August 27, 2013, new Singapore permanent residents have to wait for 3 years before they are eligible to purchase resale HDB flats.

In July 2018, The Government announces adjustments to the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) rates and Loan-to-Value (LTV) limits on residential property purchases. The current ABSD rates for Singapore Citizens (SC) and Singapore Permanent Residents (SPR) purchasing their first residential property will be retained at 0% and 5% respectively. Raise ABSD by 5%-points for all other individuals; Raise ABSD by 10%-points for entities; and Introduce an additional ABSD of 5% that is non-remittable under the Remission Rules1 (payable on the purchase price or market value, as applicable) for developers purchasing residential properties for housing development. LTV limits will be tightened by 5%-points for all housing loans granted by financial institutions. These revised LTV limits do not apply to loans granted by HDB.
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