On Thursday April 27, the city-state doubled its Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty. Now foreign home buyers will have to pay a 60% duty, which is the highest property-tax rate in the world.
If a foreigner were to buy a $5 million property in Singapore, they’d have to pay 65% in taxes, or about $3.25 million. In other major international city’s, the taxes would be much less.
Foreigners in Hong Kong have a tax rate of 29%. London, Melbourne, and Sydney are all in the 14% range. New York, in comparison, has an extreme low tax rate of just 4.3%.
Thanks to the change, foreigners are more likely to purchase property in nearby Hong Kong, Bloomberg noted.
Hong Kong is currently charging 30% stamp duty on property purchases by foreigners, but if the homeowner becomes a permanent resident later on, most of that can be refunded due to Hong Kong’s efforts to attract talent.
Source: robbreport.com