According to Singapore Residential Property Act, persons who are not citizens, permanent residents, overseas companies or overseas companies that have permanent residencies as well as converted societies are regarded as foreigners.
Although these individuals or entities are treated as foreigners by the said Act, still there are options in it that allow so-called foreigners to buy properties in Singapore. As an example, a permanent resident, who is a foreigner as per the law, can be able to apply for a HDB flat providing that they can produce an approval from the Approval Unit of the Land Dealings – the sole managing unit of the Singapore residential properties.
The aforementioned Approval Unit grants its approval based only on certain conditions that require permanent dwelling status of the applicant as well as his or her ability to provide meaningful contribution to the nation’s development. The latter condition requires applicant’s professional qualification.
The residents who have bought properties earlier to the new law enforcement have been given their rights to said purchased properties and in the case of their selling them back, only the citizens and approved people can buy them.
Validity of Real Estate Agent -
Those who intend to buy Singapore properties have few options. They should hire a real estate agent and filled the document relevant to the procedure in which one clause where the ‘Option to Purchase’ has to be filled with a conditions emphasizing the purchaser is only buying the said property with the approval of the Land Dealings Approval Unit and in the event of a failure to produce the approval would create a liability to redeem all the expenditure and interest therein to the purchaser by the owner and upon the cancellations, no claims, demands can be made by a relevant party to the other.
There are some more instances where foreigners can buy properties. If the intended property is a unit of a condominium built by an approved developer or when a property is categorized as industrial, commercial or non-residential, a foreigner can purchase said property. When a subordinator does the purchasing, then it is also treated as valid.
All the other instances, such as the case is to purchase lands, terrace houses, attachments, six leveled buildings or bungalows, the approval of the Singapore Land Authority is essential prior to the dealing.
HDB properties -
If the purchase is related to the HDB properties, such as its flats, condominiums and shops, the board requests occupants to be either citizens or permanent residents in Singapore. When a citizen wants to buy an HDB property, at least one occupant other than the applicants should be a citizens or a permanent resident.
Although foreigners are given loans up to 80 % from the total, they are subjected to various conditions. The foreign companies are not allowed to have property loans while permanent residents who want to have property loans should produce a document certifying their non-linkage with any other property loans with Singapore monetary entities.
