What a foreign buyer pays to enter: 4% in Dubai, 60% in Singapore, nothing extra in Hong Kong

Comparisons between property markets usually argue about yields and price growth. The first number a foreign buyer meets gets far less attention: what the state takes simply for the act of buying. The spread is wide enough to outweigh several years of yield difference.

Singapore: 60% on top

Since April 2023 a foreigner buying residential property in Singapore pays Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty at 60% — regardless of whether it is a first property or a fifth. Basic buyer's stamp duty applies on top of that. The measure was introduced explicitly to cool external demand, and it does exactly that.

The arithmetic is plain: a SGD 2m apartment costs a foreign buyer an additional SGD 1.2m in ABSD alone, before the basic duty and other costs. It falls due within 14 days of exercising the option to purchase.

Hong Kong: surcharges removed

The opposite case. On 28 February 2024 Hong Kong abolished all demand-side cooling measures — buyer's stamp duty, special stamp duty and the higher rate for additional residential property. As of 2026 the removal stands: a non-resident pays the same ad valorem rate as a local.

Two city-states of comparable regional standing moved in opposite directions within a year. That is a useful reminder that the tax treatment of foreign buyers is a political decision and can change quickly.

Dubai: a 4% registration fee

Dubai levies no separate tax on foreign buyers at all. There is a single Land Department transfer fee of 4% of the price, identical for residents and non-residents. Formally it is split between the parties; in practice the buyer pays it in full.

Fixed items sit on top: the administrative fee for issuing title, the trustee office fee, and the developer's no-objection certificate. Agent commission on the resale market is 2% plus VAT; on the primary market the buyer pays the agent nothing, because the developer does. There is no annual property tax and no personal income tax on rental income; instead an annual municipality fee is collected through utility billing and, in a tenancy, falls on the tenant.

On a $1m purchase

Counting only what the state takes at entry:

• Dubai: 4% registration — about $40 000, plus fixed fees.
• Hong Kong: the ad valorem rate on ordinary terms, with no foreign-buyer surcharge.
• Singapore: 60% ABSD — about $600 000, plus basic stamp duty.

A fifteenfold gap between Dubai and Singapore at entry means the Singapore asset has to deliver materially higher growth simply to draw level over the holding period. That is not an argument for one market over another — Singapore plays a different role, with a different risk profile and a different currency. It is an argument for computing the full cost of entry before comparing yields.

Three things that follow

First, the entry barrier is part of the investment model, not a minor line at the bottom of the sheet. Over a horizon of up to five years it frequently weighs more than the difference in price growth.

Second, the regime for foreigners moves. Singapore doubled its rate with one decision; Hong Kong zeroed its surcharges with one budget. A model that assumes the rules hold should at least be stress-tested against that.

Third, a low barrier in Dubai is not the same as free. Full transaction cost on the resale market runs to roughly 6–8% above the price once commission, fixed fees and VAT are counted, and that belongs in the budget from the outset rather than being discovered at the trustee's counter.