Policy before and after · Policy relaxation
Singapore announces six-month developer ABSD timeline relief during COVID-19 restrictions
Announced 6 May 2020 · Effective 6 May 2020
Read the full event recordCompare with another policyCreate research brief
Comparison window
Comparison anchored to effective date: 6 May 2020. Before: 6 April 2020 to 5 May 2020. After: 6 May 2020 to 4 June 2020. The same 30 days on each side; the anchor day counts as after.
Before · 6 Apr 2020 to 5 May 2020
0 land-sales awards
- 1 land-sales step in all
- 0 other archive events
The event
Announced 6 May 2020
Effective 6 May 2020
The effective date is the anchor.
After · 6 May 2020 to 4 Jun 2020
0 land-sales awards
- 1 land-sales step in all
- All 30 days observable
What this comparison can and cannot show
Generated from this window's records
Recorded
- 6 verified claims on this event record a before and an after value.
- 0 land-sales awards in the 30 days before the effective date, and 0 in the 30 observable days after.
- None of the 3 tracked series has a whole period on both sides of a 30-day window, so no market figure is compared.
Cannot be concluded
- That this event moved any figure on this page. The comparison is by date; nothing here is attributed to the event.
- A reading of the concurrent land sales and events as responses to this one. They are listed by date alone.
About this eventIssuing authority, category, affected market, primary source, summary
- Announced
- 6 May 2020
- Effective
- 6 May 2020
- Issuing authority
- Singapore Land Authority, Ministry of National Development, Ministry of Finance, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
- Category
- Policy relaxation
- Affected market
- Residential land held by a developer with an ABSD remission under the 2013 housing developer remission Rules, for a housing development of more than 4 units, whose instrument was executed, or is treated as executed under rule 3(3), on or before 1 June 2020, for each timeline whose original deadline expired on or after 1 February 2020. Also residential projects on Government sale sites or land alienated or lease-renewed by SLA on or before 1 June 2020, for the project completion period, and qualifying certificate developers who applied to SLA for a waiver of extension charges. Separately, on the buyer side, Singaporean married couples who bought a second home jointly on or before 1 June 2020. Land whose instrument is dated from 2 June 2020 is outside this tranche. Developers under the non-licensed developer Rules of 2015 are named by the release but are not covered here.
- Primary source
- Temporary Relief Measures for Property Sector due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic
With effect from 6 May 2020, a developer under the 2013 housing developer remission Rules whose land instrument was executed on or before 1 June 2020 had 6 more months on each ABSD remission timeline whose original deadline fell on or after 1 February 2020. Commencement went from 2 years to 2 years and 6 months, and completion and sale from 5 years to 5 years and 6 months. The ABSD extension needed no application. Government land project completion periods gained 6 months, notified by the agencies. Qualifying certificate developers could apply to SLA by 1 December 2020 for a waiver of extension charges of up to a total of 6 months. In a separate buyer-side measure, married couples selling a first home got 6 more months. No rate moved.
What changed
No policy matrix is recorded for this event. These are its verified claims that store a before and an after value.
| As recorded in the claim | Before | After | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On the buyer side, the married couple's base sale timeline was 6 months after buying a completed second home, or 6 months after its TOP or CSC, whichever is the earlier, if bought uncompleted, so the extension made it 12 months.months | 6 | 12 | +100% | Claim 21 |
| A later development told on the June 2021 event: for instruments dated on or before 1 June 2020 whose original commencement deadline fell on or after 1 February 2020, the consolidated Rules state the commencement timeline, and the document deadline in rule 3(2)(e), as 3 years and 6 months after a third 6 months announced on 28 June 2021.months | 24 | 42 | +75% | Claim 12 |
| A later development told on the June 2021 event: for instruments dated on or before 1 June 2020 whose original completion deadline fell on or after 1 February 2020, the consolidated Rules state the completion timeline, and the TOP or CSC copy deadline, as 6 years and 6 months after the three tranches.months | 60 | 78 | +30% | Claim 13 |
| ABSD commencement timeline, 2013 Rules developers, from 24 monthsmonths | 24 | 30 | +25% | Claim 2 |
Observed around this event
View linked outcomesThe same statistic over the 30 days before and after the anchor. Figures describe what was recorded in each window; they do not attribute a change to this event.
Singapore private residential transactions, all types of sale
units · Total over whole periodic periods inside each 30-day window
Before
None
Coverage 0/30 days
After
None
Coverage 0/30 days
Difference
Not stated
No whole periodic period of this series falls inside either window, so no comparison is stated. A longer window may contain one.
Provenance
- Source
- Urban Redevelopment Authority
- Series kind
- FLOW
- Basis
- Observation periods wholly inside each window, values as originally recorded.
- Origin
- Calculated (sum of published period values)
- Shown because
- Mapped to this kind of event
Private Residential Property Price Index, All Residential
index (2009Q1=100) · Value in the latest whole periodic period inside each 30-day window
Before
None
Coverage 0/30 days
After
None
Coverage 0/30 days
Difference
Not stated
No whole periodic period of this series falls inside either window, so no comparison is stated. A longer window may contain one.
Provenance
- Source
- Urban Redevelopment Authority
- Series kind
- INDEX
- Basis
- Observation periods wholly inside each window, values as originally recorded.
- Origin
- Source fact (latest whole period)
- Shown because
- Mapped to this kind of event
HDB Resale Price Index
index (2009Q1=100) · Value in the latest whole periodic period inside each 30-day window
Before
None
Coverage 0/30 days
After
None
Coverage 0/30 days
Difference
Not stated
No whole periodic period of this series falls inside either window, so no comparison is stated. A longer window may contain one.
Provenance
- Source
- Housing & Development Board
- Series kind
- INDEX
- Basis
- Observation periods wholly inside each window, values as originally recorded.
- Origin
- Source fact (latest whole period)
- Shown because
- Mapped to this kind of event
Concurrent planning and land activity
Land sales and other archive events dated inside the windows, listed by date only. Each land-sales line shows the site as the record stood on that day.
Before the effective date
1 line
1 land-sales step (0 awards) · 0 archive events
From the effective date
1 line
1 land-sales step (0 awards) · 0 archive events
Explore concurrent eventsHide concurrent events
Before (1)
30 April 2020 · Land sales
Yishun Avenue 9: Launched for tenderExecutive Condominium housing · status on 30 April 2020: Tender open
After (1)
28 May 2020 · Land sales
Tanah Merah Kechil Link: Launched for tenderResidential with Commercial at 1st Storey · status on 28 May 2020: Tender open
Methodology5 rules
- Comparison anchored to effective date: 6 May 2020. The anchor is the effective date where one is recorded, otherwise the announcement date.
- The windows are the same number of days on each side of the anchor, and the anchor day belongs to the after window.
- A series counts toward a window only for observation periods wholly inside it, with values as originally recorded, not as later revised.
- Where no whole period falls inside a window, no value and no difference is stated; a day no whole period covers is missing, never zero.
- Concurrent land sales and archive events are listed by date alone. Nothing on this page is attributed to the event.
Sources
The event's sources (6)
Primary sources6
Temporary Relief Measures for Property Sector due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic
Ministry of Law · Primary source · Published 6 May 2020
Additional Temporary Relief Measures for Property Sector due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic
Ministry of Law · Primary source · Published 8 October 2020
Extension to Temporary Relief Measures for Property Sector due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic
Ministry of Law · Primary source · Published 28 June 2021
Residential Property Act 1976, 2020 Revised Edition
Attorney-General's Chambers (Singapore Statutes Online) · Primary source · Published 31 December 2021
Stamp Duties (Housing Developers) (Remission of ABSD) Rules 2013
Attorney-General's Chambers (Singapore Statutes Online) · Primary source · Published 24 June 2013
Residential Property Act (Chapter 274), Revised Edition 2009, point-in-time version effective 31 July 2009 to 1 January 2011
Attorney-General's Chambers (Singapore Statutes Online) · Primary source · Published 31 July 2009
Event checked against its primary sources on 27 September 2026. Each claim keeps its own verification status.
Observed series come from the published statistics named on each card. Land-sales lines link to the site record and its releases.