The 60-second talking script
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Everybody is celebrating the 15-month policy disappearing. Almost nobody is talking about the rule that stayed, and it's the one that costs real money.
When you buy a resale flat as a private property owner, ABSD remission is given upfront. You pay nothing at purchase. It feels free.
It isn't. It's conditional. You must dispose of all your private residential property — Singapore and overseas — within six months of completing that flat purchase. Miss it, and the remission gets clawed back.
Here's what actually changed. Before, you sold first, waited fifteen months, then bought. The sale was already done. Now you can buy first — so for the first time you're carrying a six-month deadline on a sale you haven't made.
If your condo takes eight months to move, that's not inconvenient. That's a five or six-figure tax bill.
Buying first is now allowed. It is not automatically smart.