Seller%E2%80%99S Stamp Duty Reset Timely Move Curb Speculation
The government has announced that the Seller’s Stamp Duty (SSD) holding period will be increased to four years from July 4, with rates up by four percentage points across all tiers, bringing them back to pre-March 2017 levels.
In a joint statement released on July 3, the Ministry of National Development, the Ministry of Finance, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore explained that the change in policy was due to a steady increase in sub-sale transactions since 2020.
Sub-sales, which refer to the resale of uncompleted units before the Certificate of Statutory Completion (CSC) is obtained, are sometimes seen as a proxy for speculative activity, according to Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.
Why has the SSD been raised?
Data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) shows a significant rise in sub-sale transactions, increasing from 198 units in 2020 to 1,428 units in 2024. This coincided with construction delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and a sharp recovery in property prices, which have climbed approximately 40% since 2020.
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Tricia Song, CBRE’s head of research for Singapore and Southeast Asia, believes that “some owners likely didn’t intend to flip their properties initially but ended up doing so due to significant capital gains as prices surged.” Leonard Tay, head of research at Knight Frank Singapore, explains that construction delays during the pandemic have led to delays in project completions, causing the rise in sub-sales.
Since 1Q2023, the average quarterly sub-sale volume has hovered around 338 units, more than double the 131-unit quarterly average from 2013 to 2022. Many of these sales were made by buyers who entered the market during the low-interest-rate environment before 2022 but are now facing higher financing costs.
Chief researcher and strategist at Realion Group, Christine Sun, believes that the increase in SSD is a preemptive measure to limit future speculative activity, especially with more developments near completion. She also notes that private home completions are also expected to rise from 5,920 units in 2025 to 6,838 in 2026 and 10,306 in 2027.
Who will be affected?
According to Marcus Chu, CEO of ERA Singapore, most homeowners are unlikely to be impacted as the majority of sellers hold their properties for at least five years. The data also shows that in 1H2025, 72.1% of homeowners sold their properties after at least five years of holding.
However, there has been a noticeable rise in transactions involving properties held for three to four years, increasing from 358 cases in 2021 to 2,104 in 2024. In 1H2025 alone, there were 858 such sales, accounting for 14.7% of resale transactions. Most of these sales occurred in the Outside Central Region (OCR), where entry prices are typically lower.
In the Rest of Central Region (RCR), most properties were held for over five years, with projects such as The Tre Ver and The Woodleigh Residences showing average holding periods of 6.2 and 5.2 years, respectively. In the Core Central Region (CCR), most sub-sale transactions occurred around the four-year mark.
The policy acts as “a refinement, not a shock,” adds Mohan Sandrasegeran, head of research and data analytics at SRI. “It reinforces discipline without destabilising genuine demand. By encouraging longer holding periods, it allows for better absorption of supply over time, creating a more balanced and sustainable market.”
Effect of sub-sales on market prices
While Lee Sze Teck, Senior Director of Data Analytics at Huttons Asia, believes that the increase in SSD may not have a significant effect on market prices. He also believes that there is a stronger correlation between sub-sales and the number of units launched three years prior (0.727) than between sub-sales and prices (-0.045).
ERA Singapore’s Marcus Chu believes that the 2023 hike in Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) has had a more impactful effect, resulting in more local and owner-occupier buyers in today’s economic uncertainty. With prices stabilising, there is also less urgency to sell properties within a short holding period.
What lies ahead?
With more new launches expected, an increase in land supply under the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme, and declining interest rates improving affordability, transaction activity is likely to increase in the coming months. However, analysts agree that the SSD increase is mainly targeted at short-term investors.
“This SSD revision is a calibrated measure, not a broad-based cooling move,” says Gafoor. He doesn’t foresee a significant market impact, as most buyers now adopt a mid- to long-term view. “Moreover, current buyer sentiment is largely end-user driven, with most either buying for own stay or for long-term rental income.” Private home prices have also moderated and are expected to remain stable through the rest of the year. This could dampen any urgency to sell properties within a short holding period. According to flash estimates, private residential prices rose just 1.3% in 1H2025, down from 2.3% in 1H2024.
REDAS believes that the SSD revisions will have a limited impact on genuine homebuyers, especially Singaporeans and permanent residents, and that the market has shown signs of moderation.