All insights

Financial Guide · District 26

Lentor Gardens Residences stamp duty: BSD and ABSD

By Winfred Quek · CEA R073319H · Published 28 June 2026

Facts verified: 16 June 2026 · Pricing pending official launch · Sources linked below

Stamp duty is the part of a new launch budget that surprises people. The price catches the eye, the loan gets the attention, and then the duty bill lands as a lump of cash that has to be paid early and mostly cannot come from the mortgage. For Lentor Gardens Residences, where the primary buyer is a north side HDB upgrader stepping into a first private home, the good news is that the most common profile faces the lightest duty. The harder cases are second property buyers, PRs and foreigners, where Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty can dwarf every other line on the page. This guide works the numbers so you know what you are signing up for before 4 July.

The two duties: BSD and ABSD

There are two stamp duties a buyer pays on a Singapore residential purchase, and they work very differently. Buyer's Stamp Duty, or BSD, applies to every buyer regardless of citizenship or how many properties they own. It is charged on a progressive scale against the higher of the purchase price or market value. Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty, or ABSD, is the cooling measure layer. It depends entirely on your residency status and your existing property count, and for some profiles it is by far the larger number.

For a first time Singapore Citizen, ABSD is zero, so the only stamp duty is BSD. That is the cleanest case and, not by accident, the one that fits the project's core buyer. For everyone else, the total duty is BSD plus ABSD, and the ABSD rate is what reshapes the maths. Understanding which bucket you fall into is the first step, because the difference between a 0% and a 20% or 60% ABSD line runs to hundreds of thousands of dollars on a unit at this price.

How Buyer's Stamp Duty is calculated

BSD on residential property is tiered. Each slice of the price is taxed at its own rate, and the rates step up as the price rises. The current residential BSD ladder is as follows.

Take the estimated 3 bedroom quantum of S$1.84m as a worked example. The first S$180,000 is taxed at 1%, which is S$1,800. The next S$180,000 at 2% is S$3,600. The next S$640,000 at 3% is S$19,200. The next S$500,000 at 4% is S$20,000. The remaining S$340,000, the slice from S$1.5m up to S$1.84m, is taxed at 5%, which is S$17,000. Add those together and BSD is approximately S$61,600, which is the roughly S$60k figure quoted up top. This is the same for a citizen, a PR or a foreigner; only the ABSD on top changes.

Worked BSD by bedroom type

Because BSD is driven by quantum alone, it is easy to lay out across the estimated bedroom sizes for Lentor Gardens Residences. The quantum figures below are analyst estimates only, derived from comparable PSF, and are not the developer's prices.

Quantum figures are analyst estimates pending official pricing on 4 July 2026. BSD computed on current progressive residential rates; verify against the confirmed price for your unit.

The pattern to notice is that BSD is real money but a small fraction of the price, roughly 3 to 4% at these levels. It rises steadily because the top slices fall into the 5% band. For the wider cash and income picture that sits around these duty numbers, see the affordability guide, which folds BSD and ABSD into the full downpayment and loan calculation.

ABSD: where the profile decides everything

ABSD is where two buyers paying the identical price can owe wildly different amounts. The rate is set by your residency and the number of residential properties you already hold. The current ABSD rates are below.

Now apply those rates to the estimated 3 bedroom quantum of S$1.84m and the contrast is stark. A first time Singapore Citizen pays nothing in ABSD. A Singapore Citizen buying a second property pays 20%, which is roughly S$368,000. A Singapore Citizen on a third property, or a PR on a second, pays 30%, roughly S$552,000. A PR buying a first property pays 5%, roughly S$92,000. A foreigner pays 60%, which is roughly S$1.1m, an amount larger than the BSD, the downpayment and most of the loan combined. Buyers under an applicable Free Trade Agreement, such as nationals and Permanent Residents of certain countries, may be treated as Singapore Citizens for ABSD, so check your specific status rather than assuming the foreigner rate applies.

Total duty: the full worked table

Putting BSD and ABSD together on the estimated 3 bedroom quantum of S$1.84m gives the total upfront stamp duty by profile. This is the single most useful view, because it shows the real cash gap between buying as a first home and buying as an investment or second property.

Illustrative only, on an analyst estimated quantum of S$1.84m pending official 4 July 2026 pricing. Recompute against the confirmed price and your own profile.

The takeaway is plain. For the project's primary buyer, the north side upgrader buying a first private home, total duty is a manageable line around S$60k. For a second property buyer, the duty alone is over S$400k before a single dollar of downpayment, which is why this group must weigh remission, ownership restructuring or sequencing before they commit. The dedicated ABSD for second property buyers guide walks through those options in detail.

When and how you pay

Stamp duty is due to IRAS within 14 days of signing the Sale and Purchase Agreement, which for a new launch follows the booking and exercise of the Option to Purchase. It is an upfront, one off cost. Critically, it generally cannot be funded by your housing loan, so it has to come from cash or, for BSD, often from your CPF Ordinary Account, subject to the usual rules. ABSD in particular is usually a cash demand at a point when your CPF and cash are already stretched by the downpayment.

This timing is why I treat stamp duty as the first item in an upgrader's cash plan, not the last. If you are selling an HDB flat to fund the purchase, the sale proceeds and any CPF refund may not land in time to cover the duty deadline, which can create a short bridging squeeze. Mapping the duty payment date against your expected inflows is part of getting the financing right, and it sits alongside the loan structure covered in the loan and financing guide.

A note on the land cost angle

One reason the stamp duty maths is worth doing carefully here is that Lentor Gardens Residences may price competitively off its land basis. Kingsford paid approximately S$920 psf ppr for the site, the lowest in the Lentor corridor, while the next parcel, Lentor Central Plot 4, was bought at S$1,278 psf ppr. If a competitive launch price translates into a lower quantum for a comparable unit, every duty line in this article scales down with it, since both BSD and ABSD are percentages of price. A lower entry price is not just a smaller mortgage; it is a smaller duty bill too. That said, the launch price is not confirmed until 4 July, so these figures stay provisional until then. For the full picture, the main review sets out the land cost thesis and the honest 4 Pillar verdict.

Frequently asked questions

How much is Buyer's Stamp Duty on Lentor Gardens Residences?

On an estimated 3 bedroom quantum of approximately S$1.84m, pending official 4 July 2026 pricing, Buyer's Stamp Duty works out to roughly S$61,600, or about S$60k, before any ABSD. BSD is the same for everyone regardless of citizenship. The exact figure depends on the confirmed price for your stack, so always recompute against the actual price list.

Does a first time Singapore Citizen pay ABSD on Lentor Gardens Residences?

No. A Singapore Citizen buying their first residential property pays 0% ABSD. They pay only Buyer's Stamp Duty, which on the estimated 3 bedroom quantum near S$1.84m is roughly S$61,600. This is why the project's primary buyer, the north side HDB upgrader buying a first private home, faces the lowest total duty.

How much ABSD does a second property buyer pay at Lentor Gardens Residences?

A Singapore Citizen buying a second residential property pays 20% ABSD, which on the estimated 3 bedroom quantum near S$1.84m is roughly S$368,000, on top of about S$61,600 BSD. A Permanent Resident buying a second property pays 30%, roughly S$552,000. These are large numbers that reshape the investment maths, so map remission or restructuring options first.

What ABSD do PRs and foreigners pay on Lentor Gardens Residences?

A Permanent Resident pays 5% ABSD on a first property and 30% on a second. A foreigner pays 60% ABSD on any residential purchase, which on the estimated 3 bedroom quantum near S$1.84m is roughly S$1.1m. Buyers under an applicable Free Trade Agreement may be treated as Singapore Citizens for ABSD, so verify your specific status.

When do I pay stamp duty on a new launch like Lentor Gardens Residences?

Stamp duty is payable to IRAS within 14 days of signing the Sale and Purchase Agreement, which for a new launch follows the booking and exercise of the Option to Purchase. It is a one off, upfront cash cost and generally cannot be funded by the housing loan, though CPF Ordinary Account savings may be used for BSD in many cases. Plan it as cash you need early.

Are these Lentor Gardens Residences stamp duty figures final?

No. Lentor Gardens Residences has not released official pricing; that comes at the 4 July 2026 preview. Every quantum used here is an analyst estimate, and the duty derived from it is illustrative. Stamp duty rates can also change with government policy. Always recompute Buyer's Stamp Duty and ABSD against the confirmed price for your unit and your own profile before committing.

Winfred Quek is the Principal of Crestbrick Pte Ltd, advising Singapore upgraders, investors, and families. CEA R073319H. The information on this page is general and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or mortgage advice. All figures, especially pre launch pricing and the stamp duty derived from it, are estimates for general information only. Stamp duty rates are subject to change by the authorities. Verify all project details, dates and pricing directly with the developer, and confirm BSD and ABSD with IRAS or a qualified professional, before making any purchasing decision.