Revisions to ABSD regime to support housing developers undertaking large-scale en bloc redevelopments

27 August 2026

On 28 July 2026, the Ministry of National Development (“MND”) announced changes to the Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (“ABSD”) regime to further support licensed housing developers (“HDs”) in undertaking large-scale en bloc redevelopments where the site is purchased on or after 29 July 2026. Details are set out below.

ABSD(HD) remission timelines

Licensed HDs purchasing residential land are subject to 40% ABSD, comprising: (i) 5% non-remittable component, and (ii) 35% upfront remittable component. The upfront remittable component with interest will be clawed back if the following timelines are not met:

  • Commencement of housing development within two years from the date of acquisition of the site (“commencement timeline”);
  • Completion of the housing development within five years from the date of acquisition of the site (“completion timeline”); and
  • Sale of all housing units within five years from the date of acquisition of the site (“sale timeline”).

On 6 March 2025, the Government implemented the ABSD(HD) Remission Timeline Extension Framework for Complex Projects (“ABSD(HD) remission timelines”) to encourage HDs to undertake complex large-scale urban transformation developments. Under the framework, projects falling within one of the following four categories are eligible for a six-month extension to the ABSD(HD) remission timelines, or a 12-month extension if they fall within more than one category:

  • Category 1: En bloc projects (i) that can yield at least 700 units upon redevelopment, and (ii) where the redevelopment yield is at least 1.5 times that of the original development;
  • Category 2: Projects with complex technical or infrastructural requirements;
  • Category 3: Projects approved under the Strategic Development Incentive (SDI) scheme; and
  • Category 4: Projects that aim to achieve higher productivity targets, through the adoption of nascent construction technologies, methodologies, or progressive practices.

For more information on the ABSD(HD) remission timelines implemented on 6 March 2025, please see our article “Government revises Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty regime for housing developers to support complex projects and onboarding to CORENET X”.

Enhancements to ABSD(HD) remission timelines

The Government will provide a further extension to the ABSD(HD) remission timelines for two groups of en bloc sites under Category 1 where the site is purchased on or after 29 July 2026:

  • Large Site (Category 1A) where the site yields at least 700 residential units but less than 1,400 residential units upon redevelopment. The completion and sale timelines will be extended from 5.5 years to 6 years;
  • Mega Site (Category 1B) where the site yields at least 1,400 residential units upon redevelopment. The completion and sale timelines will be extended from 5.5 years to 7 years. To ensure the timely release of housing supply for sale by developers, an intermediate sales condition will be applied. HDs of these projects will be required to sell a minimum of 50% of the residential units at the end of six years, failing which these HDs will incur the full clawback on the 35% upfront remittable component of the ABSD with interest at the end of six years. Developers who have sold at least 50% of residential units in the project by the end of six years will still be required to sell all units and complete the housing development by the end of seven years or will similarly be subject to a full ABSD clawback on the 35% upfront remittable component with interest.

The commencement timeline for Large (Category 1A) and Mega (Category 1B) sites will remain unchanged at 2.5 years. To qualify for the extended completion and sale timelines, the number of residential units upon redevelopment is also required to be at least 1.5 times the number of residential units of the existing development.

Large or Mega Sites that qualify for more than one category of the ABSD(HD) Remission Timeline Extension Framework for Complex Projects will be provided an additional extension of six months to the ABSD(HD) remission timelines. This means that such Large and Mega Sites will be granted:

  • Commencement timeline of 3 years; and
  • Completion and sale timelines of 6.5 years for Large Sites and 7.5 years for Mega Sites.

For more details, please refer to IRAS’s website.

Reference materials

The following materials are available on the MND website mnd.gov.sg and IRAS website iras.gov.sg: