Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty is the tollgate every HDB upgrader passes on the way to a private home. There are three realistic routes through it: sell first and pay nothing, buy first and reclaim the duty through remission, or keep the flat and pay the duty for good. Each route prices differently, times differently, and suits a different family. This guide is the whole map on one page.
All rates quoted are the IRAS schedule in force at the time of writing, effective 27 April 2023. ABSD rates are policy levers and have moved several times over the years, so check the current schedule on the IRAS website before you commit to anything. Worked figures below are illustrative.
Where do the ABSD rates stand?
At the time of writing, Singapore Citizens pay 0% ABSD on their first residential property, 20% on the second, and 30% on the third and above. Permanent Residents pay 5%, 30% and 35% on the same count. Foreigners pay 60% on any residential purchase, entities pay 65%, and trustees pay 65%, with remission down to the beneficiary’s profile possible under conditions.
For an upgrading citizen household, one number dominates the decision: the 20% second-property rate. Your flat counts as your first property until the day its sale completes, so the route you choose decides whether the condo is legally your first purchase or your second.
Route one: why does selling first cost 0%?
ABSD is assessed on what you own on the purchase date. A sell-first upgrader who has completed the flat sale owns zero residential property when the condo purchase is signed, so the ABSD bill is zero. Not deferred, not reclaimed later: it never arises.
The price of this route is paid in logistics and market exposure instead. You may need interim housing between homes, you may move twice, and you buy at whatever the market is doing after your sale. For most families those costs are smaller and more controllable than a six-figure duty, which is why sell-first is the default route in our selling guide.
Route two: how does the married-couple remission work?
A couple with at least one Singapore Citizen can buy the second home first, pay the ABSD upfront, and apply to reclaim it if the first home is sold within the qualifying window. The exact window and its conditions should be verified against IRAS directly, because the deadline is unforgiving and the details matter.
The word to sit with is upfront. At the 20% rate in force at the time of writing, the outlay looks like this.
| Next home price | ABSD fronted at 20% |
|---|---|
| $1,000,000 | $200,000 |
| $1,500,000 | $300,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $400,000 |
| $2,500,000 | $500,000 |
Illustrative only, applying the citizen second-property rate at the time of writing to round purchase prices.
The remission returns the duty if you qualify and sell in time. It does not return the months of strain while a sum that size sits with IRAS instead of in your buffer, and it turns your flat sale into a countdown. Families choose this route when a specific home matters more than sequence, and it can be a reasonable choice when the financing genuinely carries both properties without depending on the sale.
Route three: what does keeping the flat really cost?
Buy the condo, keep the flat, and the 20% is not fronted; it is spent. No remission applies, because no first home is sold.
The duty is only the first cost. A second housing loan is also treated more strictly: loan-to-value limits tighten when you carry more than one mortgage, so a larger share of the price must come from cash and CPF. The current limits are worth verifying with your banker or against MAS rules before assuming any number. Whether you may retain an HDB flat while buying private property also depends on eligibility rules of its own; verify your situation with HDB before planning around it.
This route is really a portfolio decision wearing an upgrade’s clothes. It suits families who deliberately want to hold a rental flat alongside the new home and can absorb both the duty and the heavier equity requirement. It fits badly when it happens by drift, because nobody decided to sell.
The three routes side by side
| Sell first | Buy first with remission | Buy and keep | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABSD outlay | None | 20% fronted, reclaimable on a qualifying sale | 20%, permanent |
| Budget certainty | Full, proceeds known | Partial, flat unsold at purchase | Partial |
| Sale pressure | Normal market pace | Deadline driven | None |
| Loan position | Single mortgage | Two during the bridge | Two ongoing, tighter loan limits |
| Fits | Most upgrading families | A specific scarce home plus strong financing | Deliberate hold-and-rent plans |
Which route fits which family?
Sell first fits the family whose priority is certainty: exact proceeds, exact budget, no countdown. Buy first fits the family that has found the specific home worth paying for sequence, and whose reserves make the fronted duty an inconvenience rather than a risk. Buy and keep fits the family that has genuinely decided to become a landlord, has run the flat as an investment on paper, and still passes every affordability test with the duty spent.
If you cannot yet say which family you are, the map has already answered: sell first is the route that costs nothing while you find out.
The honest caveats
Everything above uses the schedule at the time of writing; ABSD rates have been adjusted repeatedly and can change again, so confirm the current IRAS schedule before acting on any figure here. The remission window and its conditions must be verified with IRAS, and loan limits with your bank. And no route on this map answers whether upgrading is right at all; that decision comes first, and it has its own guide.