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Singapore enforces 40 percent tax on any foreigners wanting to buy property. Been that way for quite a few years.

refurb 5y ago
Americans are exempted! But it hasn't always been 40% Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD), the government will ramp it up and down to control the private market. It hasn't seemed to had that big of an impact. A small, 2bed condo on land with a 99-year lease costs S$1.6M ($1.2M USD) outside the central business district. But if you really wanted to gain control of home prices and development, just adopt Singapore's 99-year lease policy of land. Once the 99 years is up, it goes back to the government you get $0. Singapore isn't old enough yet to truly see the ramifications (plenty of people are betting they'll get bought out), but the government has said they will stick to it and have stuck to their word in a recent situation where there were 60 year old leases. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/all-191-units-at-geylang-lorong-3-vacated-sla https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/all-191-units-at-geyl... "All 191 units at Geylang Lorong 3 have been vacated and ownership of the 60-year leasehold land has returned to the State, said the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) on Friday (Jan 1)" That land will be cleared and then auctioned off for another 99-year lease to private investors who will build new housing. It's a semi-Georgian policy where the Singapore government captures all of the increased land value and then turns around and uses it to subsidize new public housing or other public benefits.
- bombcar 5y ago
  The 99 year lease is kinda functionally equivalent to a 1% a year property tax, and somewhat more honest. If I could deed my land to the local government a hundred years from now in exchange for 0% property tax, I'd very likely do it (but the government would probably be sad because they need the cash flow now not later).

Americans are exempted! But it hasn't always been 40% Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD), the government will ramp it up and down to control the private market. It hasn't seemed to had that big of an impact. A small, 2bed condo on land with a 99-year lease costs S$1.6M ($1.2M USD) outside the central business district. But if you really wanted to gain control of home prices and development, just adopt Singapore's 99-year lease policy of land. Once the 99 years is up, it goes back to the government you get $0. Singapore isn't old enough yet to truly see the ramifications (plenty of people are betting they'll get bought out), but the government has said they will stick to it and have stuck to their word in a recent situation where there were 60 year old leases. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/all-191-units-at-geylang-lorong-3-vacated-sla https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/all-191-units-at-geyl... "All 191 units at Geylang Lorong 3 have been vacated and ownership of the 60-year leasehold land has returned to the State, said the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) on Friday (Jan 1)" That land will be cleared and then auctioned off for another 99-year lease to private investors who will build new housing. It's a semi-Georgian policy where the Singapore government captures all of the increased land value and then turns around and uses it to subsidize new public housing or other public benefits.

bombcar 5y ago
The 99 year lease is kinda functionally equivalent to a 1% a year property tax, and somewhat more honest. If I could deed my land to the local government a hundred years from now in exchange for 0% property tax, I'd very likely do it (but the government would probably be sad because they need the cash flow now not later).