SINGAPORE – Forty-four residential projects, or 12 per cent of projects with a sale deadline within the 2021 to 2023 period, were granted more time to clear all unsold units, aside from the extensions provided under Covid-19 temporary relief measures, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on April 2.

In his written parliamentary response, DPM Wong disclosed that “excluding generally available extensions provided under the Covid-19 temporary relief measures”, a small group of developers had applied for and received an extension to their specified sale timeline.

He was responding on April 2 to questions from People’s Action Party MP Sitoh Yih Pin (Potong Pasir) and Workers’ Party MP Louis Chua (Sengkang GRC), who asked for the reasons behind granting a deadline extension to the developers of District 10 luxury leasehold condominium Cuscaden Reserve, and whether other projects were granted similar extensions.

The Straits Times was first to report on March 8 that the 192-unit Cuscaden Reserve’s initial sales deadline to clear its remaining 180 unsold units in 2023 had been extended to 2024.

But ST’s queries to the authorities on the number of residential projects that had secured similar extensions, and the amount of additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABSD) penalties assessed and deferred, were not answered.

On April 2, DPM Wong, who is also Finance Minister, said the appeals by developers of the 44 projects were approved “as they involved extenuating circumstances, such as the developer facing site-specific delays that were unforeseen and beyond its control”.

“Requests for extensions to the specified timelines are considered by the Government on a case-by-case basis. I would not comment on individual cases, as the details include confidential taxpayer-specific information,” he said.

Under current rules, housing developers pay an ABSD of 40 per cent on land they acquire for residential development, but can obtain a remission of 35 per cent if they sell all the units in the development within five years of their buying the land.

With effect from Feb 16, projects with at least 90 per cent of units sold at the five-year sale timeline will be subject to a lower ABSD remission clawback rate.

In response to ST’s queries, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) confirmed that the revisions, announced in Budget 2024, are not applicable to housing development projects with residential land acquired before July 6, 2018.

For land acquired between July 2018 and December 2021, the ABSD payable is 25 per cent, with a non-remissable component of 5 per cent. Land acquired before July 2018 is subject to a 15 per cent rate.

In 2020, a six-month extension was given to developers to meet the conditions for ABSD remissions. It was among a slew of temporary relief measures rolled out in May 2020 to tide developers and home buyers over the Covid-19 circuit-breaker period, which disrupted construction timelines and property sales.

DPM Wong noted that “the vast majority” of developers had met the extended sale deadline for ABSD remission, given under the Covid-19 relief measures.

Mr Sitoh had asked if Cuscaden Reserve was the first residential project for which developers were granted an ABSD deadline extension besides that given as pandemic relief, and if other projects had been granted similar extensions. He also asked for the criteria applied by Iras in approving appeals.

Mr Chua asked the reasons for granting the extension to Cuscaden Reserve’s developers, and the associated terms and conditions. He also asked how many projects had been allowed deadline extensions to qualify for the ABSD remission, excluding the extensions granted to all developers during the pandemic.

Regulations on the ABSD have been adjusted over the years, and the latest rates make selling all units within a specified timeframe more challenging, especially for prime district projects, analysts said.

This is due in part to the ABSD now being 60 per cent for foreign buyers.

Analysts said the sale deadline extension granted by the Government would allow developers more time to market and sell their units before facing ABSD penalties.

But the specifics of whether the developers of the 44 projects had their ABSD penalties deferred owing to this extension cannot be confirmed for now, as the details and conditions of the extensions they received for their specified sale timelines are unavailable, noted Ms Chia Siew Chuin, JLL’s head of residential research for Singapore.

The Ministry of Finance was unable to provide more information when contacted, pointing again to “confidential taxpayer-specific information”.

Since its sales relaunch on March 16, Cuscaden Reserve has sold 80 units at an average price of slightly more than $3,000 per sq ft (psf). Before that, it had sold just 12 units at an average price of $3,600 psf since its launch in September 2019.

ST understands that apart from Cuscaden Reserve, several other residential projects may be nearing their critical sales deadline in 2024 with a significant number of unsold units remaining.

According to Realis data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority as at March 15, these projects include the 99-year leasehold The Landmark in Chin Swee Road, with 50 unsold units out of 396; Klimt Cairnhill in Cairnhill Road, with 42 unsold units out of 138; and One Bernam in Tanjong Pagar, with 137 unsold units out of 351.

When asked, property group Low Keng Huat, which is developing Klimt Cairnhill, declined comment. ZACD Group, one of the partners in Landmark JV, which is developing The Landmark, did not respond when contacted.

Freehold Dalvey Haus in District 10 may be facing the five-year deadline in 2024 as well, with four unsold units remaining, ST understands. When asked if it had applied for a sale deadline extension, KOP, which jointly developed the luxury condo with Low Keng Huat, declined comment.

Mr Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at property portal Mogul.sg, noted that with an avenue to extend the ABSD deadline, there may be less pressure on developers to find ways to urgently offload the remaining units in their projects.

“It may mean that the developers won’t face pressure from property agencies to raise the agents’ commission and to lower prices to move the remaining units,” he added.

Cushman & Wakefield Singapore and South-east Asia head of research Wong Xian Yang believes that the 44 projects, which “could include small residential projects, are unlikely to have a significant impact on the market as the proportion of total units is expected to be small”.

Ms Chia also said the 44 projects may not have much impact on total unsold inventory levels.

“As at the fourth quarter of 2023, unsold inventory remained relatively low at 17,262 units,” she said. “Although this has risen by 6.9 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2022, the level of unsold stock was still 51.9 per cent below a recent high of 35,886 units in the fourth quarter of 2018.”