Ministry of National Development has released a heavy cooling measure to curb residential property investments or speculations, with updates as follow:-

The Government announced today an Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD)to be imposed on certain categories of residential property purchases. The ABSD will be imposed over and above the current Buyer’s Stamp Duty, and will apply to the purchase price or market value of the property (whichever is higher) for the following purchases:

a) Foreigners and non-individuals[1] (corporate entities) buying any residential property will pay an ABSD of 10%;

b) Permanent Residents (PRs) owning one[2] and buying the second and subsequent residential property will pay an ABSD of 3%; and

c) Singapore Citizens (Singaporeans) owning two2 and buying the third and subsequent residential property will pay an ABSD of 3%.

The ABSD will take effect on 8 Dec 2011[3]. Remission of ABSD will be given for options granted on or before 7 Dec 2011 and exercised within 3 weeks (i.e. on or before 28 Dec 2011) or the option validity period, whichever is the earlier.

Official Source: MND Website

In Summary

All foreigners buying 1st residential property in Singapore will have to pay 13% Buyer’s Stamp Duty instead of the previous 3% (Additional 10%)

All Permanent Residents 1st residential property will still remain 3% and the 2nd one will be 6% Buyer’s Stamp Duty (Additional 3%)

All Singaporeans 1st and 2nd residential properties will remain at 3% and the subsequent ones to be at 6% Buyer’s Stamp Duty (Additional 3%)

Outlook

This will dampen residential market strongly as foreign buying interest has always been very strong. That said, other property segments such as commercial and industrial should not be affected.

The Singapore Government has recently released further measures today to curb the possibly speculative hot property market which will be in effect immediately (30th August 2010) as follows:-

• Seller’s Stamp Duty Holding period extended from 1 year to 3 years

For residential properties bought4 on or after 30 August 2010, SSD will be imposed if these properties are sold within three years of purchase. Specifically, the SSD levied on residential properties will be revised to as follows:

1. Sold within the first year of purchase, i.e. the property is held for 1 year or less from its purchase date – The full SSD rate (1% for the first $180,000 of the consideration, 2% for the next $180,000, and 3% for the balance) will be imposed.

2. Sold within the second year of purchase, i.e. the property is held for more than 1 year and up to 2 years – 2/3 of the full SSD rate.

3. Sold within the third year of purchase, i.e. the property is held for more than 2 years and up to 3 years – 1/3 of the full SSD rate.

No SSD will be payable by the vendor if the property is sold more than 3 years after it was bought. Please see Annex for examples of how the SSD will be computed.

• Cash Component Revised from Minimum 5% to 10% Loan to Value Limit for Property Owners with More Than One Outstanding Loan
• Loan to Value revised from 80% to 70% for Property Owners with More Than One Outstanding Loan

The LTV limit is lowered from 80% to 70% with effect from 30 Aug 20108 for borrowers who have one or more outstanding housing loans (whether from HDB or a financial institution regulated by MAS) at the time of applying for a housing loan for the new property purchase. Borrowers who do not have any outstanding housing loans continue to have an LTV cap of 80%. These rules apply to housing loans granted by financial institutions for private residential properties, Executive Condominiums, HUDC flats and HDB flats (including DBSS flats).

Loans granted by HDB for HDB flats (including DBSS flats) will still have an LTV cap of 90%. HDB loans are offered to eligible first-time flat buyers and second-timers who are right-sizing their flats to meet their housing needs. They are required to utilise all of their CPF Ordinary Account balance before HDB loans will be granted. Furthermore, those taking a second concessionary HDB loan must use the CPF refund and 50% of the cash proceeds from the sale of their previous flat before they are granted an HDB loan. This is in line with HDB’s home ownership policy of helping eligible buyers, especially first-time buyers, purchase public housing in a financially prudent manner.

Financial institutions’ lending standards have remained prudent and the asset quality of housing loans has stayed robust, with the non-performing loans ratio at less than 1% as at Q2 2010. Nonetheless, there are signs that more housing loans are originating at higher LTV bands of above 70%. In line with the objective of ensuring a stable and sustainable property market, lowering the LTV limit sends a clear signal to financial institutions to maintain credit standards, and encourages greater financial prudence among property purchasers already servicing one or more outstanding housing loans.

The reasons as exact given by Ministry of National Development,

While Singapore has enjoyed strong economic growth in the first half of 2010, our economic growth is expected to moderate in the second half of the year. There are also still uncertainties in the global economy. Should economic growth falter and the market corrects, property buyers could face capital losses, with implications on their own finances and the economy as a whole. Moreover, the current low global interest rate environment will not continue indefinitely, and higher interest rates could have severe implications for buyers who have overextended themselves. Therefore, the Government has decided to introduce additional measures now to temper sentiments and encourage greater financial prudence among property purchasers.

Huge impact should follow with such, and we could very likely see the property transactions drop drastically.

We’ll have to wait out for more details from each relevant government agencies on how the changes should impact your usual property transactions.