Key takeaways
- On an A$/S$800,000 purchase, a Singapore citizen buying a second property pays 20% ABSD — S$160,000. The equivalent Melbourne buyer pays an 8% foreign purchaser duty — A$64,000.
- Melbourne's stamp duty is higher in isolation (about 5.5% against Singapore's 2.3%), but the ABSD gap swamps it.
- Melbourne requires a 10% deposit within about three weeks, against Singapore's 1% option fee plus 4% on exercise — a materially different cash-flow profile early on.
- Australian property cannot be bought with CPF. Singapore's 15-20% CPF/cash component has no Melbourne equivalent; it is cash on settlement.
- Foreign buyers are restricted to new dwellings until 30 June 2029, so the Melbourne side of this comparison means new-build only, with FIRB approval required regardless of price.
This comparison usually gets framed as which city will grow more. Nobody knows that. What is knowable is what each market charges you to get in, to hold, and to get out — and those numbers differ enough to decide the question on their own.
I sell in both. Here is the honest version.
Entry cost, side by side
| Singapore | Melbourne (foreign buyer) | |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer's duty | BSD up to 6% | General duty ~5.5% |
| Additional duty | ABSD 20% (2nd), 30% (3rd+) for citizens; 60% for foreigners | 8% foreign purchaser duty |
| Approximate total | ~33% on a citizen's third property | ~13.5% |
| Tenure | Mostly 99-year leasehold | Freehold, including apartments |
| Gross yield | ~3–3.5% | ~4–5% |
| Annual holding cost | Property tax | Land tax + absentee owner surcharge |
| Exit penalty | SSD for 4 years: 16/12/8/4% | CGT, no main residence exemption for foreign residents |
The single figure that moves most decisions: a Singaporean citizen's third property attracts 30% ABSD. On S$2 million that is S$600,000 handed over before you own anything. Victoria's equivalent burden on a foreign buyer is about 13.5% all in.
What Singapore does better, and it is not close
Capital preservation. Singapore residential property has been a remarkably reliable store of value. Supply is managed, the regulator intervenes early, and prices have not had the drawdowns Melbourne has.
No currency risk. Your income, your loan and your asset are in the same currency. That sounds abstract until the Australian dollar moves 10% against you in a year your rent did not.
You can see it. You can drive past, inspect the tenant's condition, handle a problem the same afternoon. Distance is a real cost and it does not show up in a yield table.
Financing is easier and cheaper, with more lenders and better terms than a foreign borrower gets in Australia.
What Melbourne does better
Entry cost, by a wide margin. Covered above. If ABSD is what has you reading this, that gap is the entire argument.
Freehold, and land. Most Singapore condominiums are 99-year leasehold, a depreciating interest. Melbourne apartments are freehold, and a freehold house sits at a price that buys an apartment in Singapore.
Yield. 4–5% gross against 3–3.5%. Gross in both cases — Melbourne's costs eat more of it, so treat the gap as narrower than it looks.
The education case. If a child is doing three or four years at Melbourne or RMIT, that is A$130,000–180,000 in rent. Buying converts the expense into an asset. No Singapore equivalent exists.
Where Melbourne genuinely costs you more
An honest comparison has to include these, and most do not.
- Absentee owner land tax surcharge, every year, on top of ordinary land tax
- The CGT main residence exemption is generally unavailable to foreign residents on sale — this catches people who assume Singapore's treatment carries across, and it is often larger than the stamp duty
- New dwellings only until 30 June 2029; the established market is closed to you
- Currency, in both directions
- A flat market. Melbourne house values fell 1.2% and units 0.2% over the year to June
The exit, which both markets now tax
Singapore extended Seller's Stamp Duty in July 2025. Properties bought on or after 4 July 2025 face a four-year holding period, at 16% in year one, 12% in year two, 8% in year three and 4% in year four.
That is a meaningful change. A Singapore purchase is now a four-year commitment at minimum unless you are willing to pay to leave early.
Melbourne has no equivalent transaction penalty, but it has CGT — and if you are a foreign resident when you sell, the concessions a local would get may not be available. The exits are different in shape: Singapore's is a fixed toll that expires, Australia's is a share of the gain that does not.
Who each one suits
Stay in Singapore if this is your first or second property, so ABSD is manageable; if you want capital preservation over yield; if currency risk or distance would genuinely bother you; or if you may need to sell within four years.
Look at Melbourne if you are on your third property and ABSD has made the arithmetic impossible; if a child is studying there; if you want freehold or land rather than another leasehold apartment; or if you want yield and can hold long enough to ride out a flat market.
The comparison I would actually run for you
Not city against city — your specific alternatives, with real numbers:
- Total entry cost on both, including every duty and surcharge
- Net yield after all holding costs, not gross
- Exit cost at year three, five and ten in each market
- Your tax residency at the likely point of sale, since it decides the CGT outcome
- A currency assumption stated openly rather than buried
If you want that done properly
Tell me how many Singapore properties you already hold, your budget, and whether this is investment or for family use. I will build the comparison both ways and show you the working.
Often the answer is Singapore, and I will say so — I sell there too, and I would rather be right than sell you the further-away option. But if you are staring at 30% ABSD on a third property, you already know why people are looking at Melbourne.