Budget 2023: Buyer’s Stamp Duty hike unlikely to hurt property demand; some see it as wealth tax

• Increase in Buyer’s Stamp Duty for higher value properties to kick in from Feb 15
• Expected to generate additional revenue of S$500 million per year

SINGAPORE will introduce a higher marginal Buyer’s Stamp Duty (BSD) for higher-value residential and non-residential properties that will kick in from Wednesday (Feb 15), but market watchers say the move will hardly put a dent in property demand.

Where the BSD hike might hit harder is in the en bloc market, where the higher duties could widen the current expectations gap between buyers and sellers, and in big-ticket billion-dollar deals.

In his Budget speech on Tuesday, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said the change in BSD “is expected to generate an additional S$500 million in revenue per year”.