SSD rule change preemptive measure against property flipping

This will make investors looking to flip properties think twice.

The government’s recent rule change, which increased seller stamp duty (SSD) rates by four percentage points for each tier of the holding period on residential properties, is just a preemptive measure against property flipping, analysts said.

Leonard Tay, Head, Research at Knight Frank Singapore said the rise in subsales over the past five years was largely due to COVID-related construction delays, which pushed many project completions beyond the three-year SSD period.

With rising home prices, early buyers saw strong resale gains in 2023, whilst 2024 subsale buyers were drawn to nearly completed, move-in-ready homes that were more affordable than new launches, especially amidst high renovation costs.

Tay sees this as the government taking a precautionary approach against the risk of subsales driving up prices, even though that outcome is uncertain and may not actually occur.

“Should the level of subsales continue to increase in 2025 even after increasing SSD, it would not be too much of a stretch of the imagination to wonder whether the government might even go so far as to consider imposing a Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) in the private home market, similar to that applied to HDB flats,” Tay said.

Tricia Song, Head of Research, Southeast Asia at CBR said subsale volumes have hovered around 338 units per quarter between Q1 2023 to Q1 2025, compared to 131 units per quarter between Q1 2013 to Q4 2022.

“Some owners, who probably did not buy their projects with the intention to flip, have sold their properties for significant capital gains as prices have risen 40% since 2020. However, we also note subsales as a percentage of total private residential transactions have also steadily declined from a 14-year high of 9.5% in Q4 2023 to 4.4% in Q1 2025,” Song added.

Song said the measure is prudent to curb investors who may be eyeing to replicate the short-term flips, making them think twice before committing if they do not have the holding power.

Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex Realty, said he does not expect the latest SSD revision to have a significant impact on the housing market as most buyers today adopt a mid to long-term view of their property purchase.

“In addition, we observe that the current buyer sentiment is not speculative in nature, with many prospective buyers either thinking of buying a unit for their own stay or to generate recurring rental income in the years to come,” Gafoor said.

Christine Sun, Chief Researcher and Strategist, Realion Group echoed other analysts on the significant impact of the rule change.

Sun said that although the number of sub-sale transactions is higher than before the pandemic, the quarterly transactions have been on a downtrend over the past few quarters.

“Most condominiums are purchased for owner-occupation, especially after the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) has been raised several times. Those who buy properties for their own use will not be affected by the increased SSD, as they are likely to stay in the property for the long term,” Sun added.

Lee Sze Teck Senior Director, Data Analytics at Huttons, expects the policy change will do its intended purpose of reducing the number of subsales in the market, likely to go below 2% starting from 2026.

Teck expects the buyers who would otherwise have bought a subsale unit will buy from the new sale market now as the number of subsale listings will reduce. These buyers were looking for a new or soon-to-be-completed home.

“As SORA rates have come down from a high of 3.76% in Nov 2023 to 2.3% in Jul 2025, borrowing costs for buyers have reduced significantly. The lengthening of the SSD holding period has a low probability of increasing distress in the market,” Teck said.