Singapore’s Second Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong said in a Bloomberg TV interview that the government hasn’t “made any movement in the budget” to relax the property cooling measures because “demand remains very resilient” and “property volume in terms of transactions have increased and not decreased”. Sacrificing housing affordability for foreign … [Read more...]
4 reasons why Hong Kong’s new stamp duty can’t save Singapore’s property market
Bloomberg just published an article on ‘Hong Kong Property Tax May Help End Singapore's Housing Slump’ (Bloomberg, Jan 19). The journalist cites the remarks of a Cushman & Wakefield spokesperson that foreign buyers may turn to Singapore after the 15 percent increase (30 percent in total) of stamp duty in Hong Kong. This can benefit Singapore to end the slide of property … [Read more...]
Ask 4 questions before you buy that overseas property
Recently, I keep getting messages from readers of my blog, asking whether they should invest in overseas properties. Places where these properties are built include Iskander, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Australia, UK, US, Japan, Thailand and the Philippines. The only reason that justifies buying abroad Basically, I am not against the idea of investing overseas if the … [Read more...]
Are additional buyer stamp duties necessary?
The Singapore government just announced additional buyer stamp duties (ABSD) to be imposed on foreign and multi-property buyers effective December 8, 2011. 1st time foreign buyers have to pay an additional 10 percent ABSD. Singaporeans buying 3rd property and PRs buying 2nd property have to pay 3 percent more on ABSD. This is on top of the inflated seller stamp duties … [Read more...]