Due to the increasing land costs in land scarce Singapore, property prices have been on the rise.
Additionally the government has stopped selling freehold land, thus the value of freehold properties have been increasing steadily over the last decade.
In order for developers to build freehold condos, they have to buy over existing land / condos (collective sale/ en bloc), which means they have to pay out all the residents a significant sum of money, so they’d be willing to sell their homes. Thus, bringing up the cost of acquiring the land.
These days condos range from $35XX PSF in the core central region, $22XX PSF in the rest central region to around $1400 PSF in the OCR (Outside Core Central Region).
L- Liechtenstein
I – Iceland
N – Norway
U- United States (citizens only)
S- Switzerland
Foreigners Eligible for ABSD Remission under Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
For a $2 million property, this equates to a whopping $400,000 savings.
They just need to pay 4% (less $15,400) for properties above 1m, stamp duty. No difference from Singaporeans.
How awesome is that!
Tl; dr:
Singapore property prices have been on the rise due to escalating land costs.
The cheapest condos cost around $1200-1400 PSF, outside of the core central region. Which equates to approx $1.2- $1.4 million for a 1000 sqft apartment.