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What are the housing options of foreigners in Singapore?
It is not easy to be a foreigner wanting to buy a home without any knowledge of Singapore's law about housing loan. The UOB offers a home loan to foreigners who wish to purchase a residential property with a maximum repayment period of 35 years or 75 years of loan tenor. Foreigners may enjoy the fixed rate, floating rate, or the pegged SIBOR packages. The UOB allows a combination of any two of the packages.
Bank loans
Foreigners may apply for a secured piermont grand showflat loan from a Singaporean bank of up to a maximum of 70 to 80% of the valuation/ purchased price.
Singaporean law on foreign ownership
The foreign ownership in Singapore is governed by the Residential Property Act (RPA). It was imposed by the government in 1973. It allows foreign talents such as the permanent residents and foreign companies to purchase properties. In addition, the RPA allows foreigners to purchase apartments without any prior approval when buying apartments in non-condominium developments of less than 6 levels. This means, a foreign buyer should get approval when buying vacant lots and landed properties. The bungalows, semi-detached houses and the terrace houses are examples of landed properties needing approval before purchase. The approval is granted by the Singapore Land Authority. You may download the application from the Land Dealings Approval unit website. Other restricted properties are the HDB Shophouse, resale HDB flat, purchasing a unit directly from HDB, and any executive condominium bought under the Executive Condominium Housing Scheme Act 1996.