SINGAPORE – Property buyers of certain nationalities, including US nationals, are exempt from Singapore’s recent stamp duty hike for foreigners.

Nationals from the United States, Iceland and Norway, among others, are accorded the same stamp duty treatment as Singapore citizens, based on respective free trade agreements about a decade ago.

The groups have been less avid buyers of property in Singapore compared with mainland Chinese and Malaysians. Americans play a smaller role among foreign buyers because they typically gravitate towards property within the US or in Britain, according to property portal Mogul.sg chief research officer Nicholas Mak.

In new measures that took effect on April 27, Singapore doubled the additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) for foreigners to 60 per cent, with a smaller hike for Singapore citizens and permanent residents.

The rate for using an entity or a trust was raised to 65 per cent to prevent any circumvention of the rules.

The timing of the announcement comes ahead of a Singapore general election due by 2025. With housing a hot-button issue, the authorities raised taxes for buyers of higher-value properties in the latest Budget.

At the recent launch of condominium Blossoms by the Park, four units were sold to US buyers and four to Chinese, according to Mr Lim Yew Soon, managing director of the developer, EL Development.

The launch came two days after the new stamp duties took effect. BLOOMBERG