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Singapore home market unaffected by Indonesian tax amnesty
Indonesian property holdings in Singapore have seen lower than expected liquidation since the introduction of the TAS.
The implementation of the Tax Amnesty Scheme (TAS) in Indonesia has not had any material impact on Singapore’s residential segment, said Credit Suisse in a report.
Credit Suisse noted that Indonesians have historically been amongst the largest foreign buyers of prime residential property in Singapore. As such, when the TAS was introduced, there were concerns that Indonesians would liquidate their property holdings in Singapore and repatriate the assets back to Indonesia, adding downward pressure on prime residential prices.
However, it was found that only US$9.8 billion (S$13 billion) of assets have been repatriated, significantly lower than US$184 billion (S$251 billion) in declared assets.
On the other hand, the TAS has also not resulted in any rise in Indonesians buying prime residential properties. Based on Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) data up to 20 September, foreigners made up 610 of 1,844 buyers in the prime Core Central Region (CCR), with Indonesians accounting for 136 units.
In fact, year-to-date volumes have continued to be subdued, in light of cooling measures like the Additional Buyers Stamp Duty (ABSD), which is targeted at foreigners.
“Consequently, foreigners represented 33 percent of total CCR sales year-to-date, in line with historical averages, while Indonesian buyers represented 7.4 percent of (the) total (sales), below historical averages of 10.0 percent,” said the report.
As such, the modest increase in foreign buyers at new launches may have been driven by a combination of project attributes and discounts / incentives.
At Cairnhill Nine, for instance, 50 percent of the 215 units sold were bought by Singaporeans, with the remainder well distributed among Indian nationals, mainland Chinese, and Indonesians.
“We understand recent new launches of prime properties such as The Nassim (10 units sold) and Gramercy Park (36 units sold) too saw similar buyer profiles, while 80 percent of buyers at Tower 1 of OUE Twin Peaks were Singaporeans, likely driven by its deferred payment schemes,” added Credit Suisse.
Cheryl Marie Tay, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories, email cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg
