Buyer's Stamp Duty, Tier By Tier: S$24,600 On A S$1,000,000 Home (Rules From 15 Feb 2023)
Published 6 Oct 2026
Buyer's stamp duty is one of the first cash items in any home purchase. It is set by a schedule, not by the market. The rate you hear quoted is rarely the rate you pay on the whole price.
In this article, we look at the six BSD tiers recorded as in force from 15 Feb 2023. We then work the schedule through at four prices: S$600,000, S$1,000,000, S$1,500,000 and S$2,500,000.
At S$1,000,000, BSD comes to S$24,600. That is 2.5% of the price. The tiers are the IRAS residential rates from 15 Feb 2023, and the amounts are computed by this site's position engine.
What Are The BSD Tiers From 15 Feb 2023?
BSD is charged band by band. Each slice of the price carries its own rate. The top rate applies only to the part above the band's floor.
The table below sets out the six bands and their rates.
The first S$180,000 is charged at 1%. The next S$180,000 is charged at 2%. The band from S$360,000 to S$1,000,000 is charged at 3%. Above that, the rates step up to 4%, 5% and 6%. The 6% rate applies only to the part above S$3,000,000. An earlier version of this schedule was recorded as dated 20 Feb 2018.
| Part of the price | Rate (%) |
|---|---|
| S$0 to S$180,000 | 1.0 |
| S$180,000 to S$360,000 | 2.0 |
| S$360,000 to S$1,000,000 | 3.0 |
| S$1,000,000 to S$1,500,000 | 4.0 |
| S$1,500,000 to S$3,000,000 | 5.0 |
| above S$3,000,000 | 6.0 |
What Does BSD Come To At Four Prices?
The tiers matter most when you put a price through them. Our position engine applies each band in turn.
The table below shows the amount payable and the effective rate at four prices.
Note the gap between the headline band rate and the effective rate. A S$1,500,000 purchase touches the 4% band. The bill is S$44,600, or 3.0% of the price. At S$2,500,000, the purchase reaches into the 5% band, and BSD comes to S$94,600.
| Price | BSD | Effective rate (%) |
|---|---|---|
| S$600,000 | S$12,600 | 2.1 |
| S$1,000,000 | S$24,600 | 2.5 |
| S$1,500,000 | S$44,600 | 3.0 |
| S$2,500,000 | S$94,600 | 3.8 |
Why The Effective Rate Rises With Price
The effective rate is the amount divided by the price. It climbs as more of the price falls into the higher bands.
At S$600,000, the effective rate is 2.1%. At S$2,500,000, it is 3.8%. The step between those two figures is the work of the 4% and 5% bands.
These amounts follow from the schedule and the price alone. They do not include ABSD, legal fees or any other cost. They are also not a valuation of any home.
Summary
Under the schedule in force from 15 Feb 2023, BSD runs across six bands, from 1% on the first S$180,000 to 6% on the part above S$3,000,000. Worked through the bands, a S$600,000 purchase carries S$12,600 in BSD, and a S$2,500,000 purchase carries S$94,600.
The figures here show what the rules produce at a given price, nothing more. They assume the price is the amount the duty is assessed on. They do not cover ABSD, seller's stamp duty, or any remission that may apply to a particular buyer.
Method: tiers as recorded in this site's rules file (BSD version 2023-02-15, source: IRAS, Buyer's Stamp Duty rates for residential property from 15 Feb 2023; verified 2026-09-18). Amounts computed by the position engine. The rules must be checked against IRAS before anyone relies on them. Private figures are from URA Data Service caveats, HDB figures from data.gov.sg resale records, both loaded weekly by this site's ingest. Medians are of the non-excluded transactions in the period named. Sales flagged by the hygiene rules (related-party transfers, bulk deals, outliers) are left out. Every figure is indicative and drawn from recorded transactions, not a formal valuation.