In the market for a new home in Singapore? Or thinking about moving out of your family’s place after putting up with them for so long? If you don’t fall under the usual category (i.e., two Singaporeans getting married and buying their first BTO HDB), you’re probably wondering what sort of property you can buy here.

The new rules to buy a property in Singapore essentially depend on a few factors:

• Your citizenship
• Your age
• Your marital status or family nucleus
• Your household income
• Your ethnicity
• Whether you own any other property in Singapore or overseas

Here’s where it gets tricky though: Singapore’s conservative Asian culture tends to assume that you’re part of a family unit (or at least have a fiancé). That means if you’re single or under a certain age, you’ll hit many walls when trying to find the right property to buy.

When you consider the rules for Singapore PRs buying resale HDBs or perhaps foreigners looking for property in Singapore, things can get terribly complicated.

With that in mind, this article gives you the breakdown of what kind of property you’re allowed to buy (based on your demographic):

• Singaporean Citizens
• Singapore PRs
• Foreigners living in Singapore

If you’re a Singapore citizen…

You can pretty much buy any type of property you want in Singapore.

That is, assuming you’re not swimming in cash. If you and/or your spouse draw a very high salary, you won’t be able to take advantage of subsidized government housing.

Another snag is that you might be restricted on the size of the subsidized HDB flat you can buy, particularly if you’re single or marrying a foreigner.

We won’t go in-depth into the requirements here since we have other articles outlining how to take advantage of HDB’s schemes, but here’s a quick table outlining what kind of property you’re eligible to buy:

If you’re a Singapore PR…

Unfortunately, Singapore’s housing schemes are heavily skewed to the benefit of Singapore citizens. This means that as a mere PR, you won’t be entitled to the same privileges as a citizen.

That is, unless you happen to be marrying a Singapore citizen.

Even then though, you’ll have to pay an extra premium ($10,000 on top of the purchase price!) when you purchase that BTO flat with your soon-to-be-spouse. Part of the family grant will also be withheld until you convert to Singaporean citizenship.

Obviously, the odds are not in your favor – but at least you’ll enjoy a few more privileges than foreigners.

This infographic from HDB outlines the difference between a pure Singapore citizen household versus an SC/SPR or SPR/SPR household:

And here’s a quick table summarizing the type of property you can buy:

If you are eligible to buy a HDB flat, do read our guide to HDB housing grants as we break down the various housing grants available by each demographic.

If you’re a foreigner in Singapore…and want to buy a property here

Foreigners face the most restrictions when buying property in land-scarce Singapore.

For one, you basically won’t have any access to government subsidies for housing. Also, there are more hoops to jump through if you’re purchasing an Executive Condominium or landed property, which is why you see so many foreigners buying condos in Singapore.

All foreign buyers also have to pay an Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (15%) on top of the regular Buyer’s Stamp Duty – unless your country happens to be one of the few that has a Free Trade Agreement with Singapore.

That means if you don’t anticipate staying in Singapore for very long, you may want to look for a rental rather than purchase a home.

Here’s a quick table outlining the sort of property you can buy as a foreigner:

Was this article helpful? Good things must share!