New launch purchase timeline in Singapore: deadlines by date

A new-launch purchase in Singapore sets several clocks running, each from a different event, and this new launch purchase timeline lists them as checked on 17 October 2026. The main ones: buyer’s and additional buyer’s stamp duty (BSD and ABSD) within 14 days of the signed contract; seller’s stamp duty (SSD) if you sell within four years of buying (homes bought on or after 4 July 2025); six months from the Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) or Certificate of Statutory Completion (CSC), whichever is earlier, for a married couple to sell a first home and claim an ABSD refund on an uncompleted second home; and a possession date within two years of the child’s entry into P1 for a P1 address.

Each clock below carries the official page that states it and the guide that explains it. This is a dated reference and general information, not advice: the deadlines that bind you are in your own option, sale and purchase agreement (S&PA) and your lawyer’s instructions, so use this page to know what to ask.

What starts when you take the option to purchase?

The option is the first clock. These terms come from a circular by URA’s Controller of Housing dated 28 September 2020, which is now archived. Treat them as dated terms and check them against your own option document:

• Validity: under the standard option, it expires three weeks after the S&PA and copies of the title deeds are delivered to you. You exercise it by signing the S&PA and returning it to the developer (URA circular URA/COH/Circular-2020-03, dated 28 September 2020).
• If you do not exercise it: the developer may forfeit 25% of the booking fee (same circular).
• No quick re-issue: from 28 September 2020 a developer’s sale licence bars it, without the Controller’s written consent, from re-issuing an option to the same purchaser for the same unit within 12 months after the earlier option expires (same circular).
• Longer by agreement: on application, the Controller is prepared to extend validity up to 12 weeks from the option date if buyer and developer both agree; the circular’s example is a buyer who needs more time to sell an existing property.

URA’s current Buying Property page (last updated 29 June 2026) describes the booking and S&PA stages. In the page text we read it does not repeat the three-week or 12-week figures, and it links PDF guides that we did not read. Our option to purchase guide explains what each date starts, and the payment schedule guide sets the option beside the payments (its stage percentages are unverified).

What runs from the signed contract?

• Stamp duty: BSD and ABSD must be paid within 14 days after the date of the signed contract or agreement, or within 30 days after you receive it in Singapore if it was signed overseas. IRAS says the duty cannot be deferred or paid by instalments, and a penalty of 4 times the unpaid duty can be imposed (IRAS on ABSD, last updated 27 August 2026).
• Which date counts: for ABSD, IRAS defines the “date of purchase” as the earliest of the date the Acceptance to the Option to Purchase is executed and the date of the S&PA. A footnote leaves out an option that is itself subject to signing the S&PA.
• Your property count: IRAS counts a property toward a buyer’s total from the date the contract is accepted, even before transfer, and that includes an uncompleted unit bought from a developer once the S&PA is signed (IRAS on ABSD).
• Seller’s stamp duty: for homes bought on or after 4 July 2025, SSD applies if you sell within four years, at 16%, 12%, 8% and 4% by year. IRAS’s own example: bought on 7 July 2025, no SSD if sold on or after 7 July 2029. IRAS usually takes the date of sale to be the date the buyer accepts the option or the date of the S&PA. SSD, if owed, is due within 14 days of the executed sale contract, with no deferment (IRAS on SSD, last updated 13 August 2026).

Rates and a worked BSD figure are in our stamp duty guide, and our free BSD and ABSD calculator applies IRAS’s tables to a price before any remission. Our seller’s stamp duty guide shows how to count the four years.

What runs from TOP or CSC?

• ABSD refund, sale deadline: a married couple, including a Singapore Citizen, buying a second home jointly in their two names only must sell the first home within six months after the TOP or CSC issue date, whichever is earlier, if the second home is uncompleted at purchase. For a completed home the six months run from the date of purchase. Other conditions apply. IRAS says an extension of the six months will not be acceded to; the one temporary extension on its page covered second homes bought on or before 1 June 2020 that met a further condition. IRAS takes the date of sale of the first home to be the date its buyer accepts the option or signs the S&PA (IRAS on the married-couple remission, last updated 13 August 2026).
• ABSD refund, claim deadline: apply within six months after the date of sale of the first home. If you declared your intention to sell and claimed the refund in the e-Stamping form (purchase forms submitted on or after 2 July 2023) and meet the conditions, IRAS refunds automatically within six weeks from the stamping of the first home’s sale (same page).
• Single seniors: single Singapore Citizens aged 55 and above who buy a second home on or after 16 February 2024 can claim an ABSD refund if, among other conditions, they sell each first home within the same six months as couples, the second home is worth less than each first home sold, and they apply within six months of the sale (IRAS on the senior concession, last updated 7 August 2026). See our ABSD refund guide.
• Property tax starts: IRAS taxes a newly completed property from the TOP date. In IRAS’s example, TOP is 8 August but tax liability starts on 5 November; the buyer is liable from 8 August, and a lawyer usually helps seek reimbursement from the developer for 8 August to 4 November (IRAS for buyers, last updated 7 August 2026).
• Transfer, first bill and payment: the seller’s lawyer, here the developer’s, files a Notice of Transfer with IRAS within one month of the sale or transfer. The first bill generally follows 6–12 months from the date of transfer, once the assessment is finalised. Pay within one month from the date of the Acknowledgement Notice; GIRO gives up to 12 interest-free monthly instalments (same page).

Our TOP guide covers what a TOP triggers for a buyer, and the first property tax bill guide follows the bill from TOP to payment.

What runs from letting the home?

• Tell IRAS: within 15 days after the letting, for property tax. You need not tell IRAS separately if the lease is stamped through myTax Portal. The penalty is a fine of up to S$5,000 plus interest on the tax (IRAS on renting out, last updated 13 August 2026).
• Stamp the lease: within 14 days after signing in Singapore, or 30 days after receiving it in Singapore if signed overseas; penalties apply if not (same page).
• Tax rates: letting out the whole home withdraws owner-occupier rates from the date of letting. Letting part of it while you live there keeps them (same page).
• After the tenancy: owner-occupier rates are not restored automatically. Reapply when you move back; IRAS says to apply within five years of eligibility for a full refund of any overpaid tax (same page).

Income tax on the rent is separate; our renting out guide sets it beside property tax.

Which date does P1 registration use for an unfinished home?

• The rule: MOE lets parents register a child for Primary 1 using the address of a yet-to-be-completed property they have bought, if its vacant or delivery possession date (VPD/DPD) falls within two years of the child’s entry into P1. MOE says it does not accept the probable completion date (MOE on the address used for registration, last updated 30 September 2026). The rule is in the page’s “Using the address of a new property” section.
• MOE’s example: if the child registers for P1 in 2026, the VPD/DPD must be no later than 31 December 2028.
• 2027 (our inference): following the same two-year count, a child registering in 2027 would need a VPD/DPD no later than 31 December 2029. That is our inference, not an MOE figure: the page still gave only the 2026 example when we read it on 17 October 2026. Check MOE’s page before the 2027 registration exercise.
• On the form: you undertake to move in within two years of the child’s entry into P1, then email the school a copy of the original S&PA (private property) during your registration phase.
• After a place: a child admitted through home-school distance priority using the new address must live there for at least 30 months from the time the family moves in.

Our P1 possession-date guide explains how the rule applies.

What does this page leave out?

• Instalment percentages and dates for the progress payments. None of the pages we read sets them out; URA’s Buying Property page mentions only the progress payment due upon TOP. See your S&PA.
• The defects liability period. URA’s page says that after collecting the key you can report defects to the developer within the “1 year defects liability period”, but it does not say when that period starts. Read your S&PA.

A fictional purchase, date by date

Illustrative only: a fictional project, fictional dates and an assumed married couple, including a Singapore Citizen, replacing their first home. It shows how the clocks chain, not what any project will do.

1. 2 November 2026: the developer grants the option to purchase.
2. 16 November 2026: the S&PA and title deeds reach the buyers. Three weeks later, 7 December 2026, the option expires unless extended.
3. 27 November 2026: the buyers sign the S&PA, which we assume is the date of purchase. BSD and ABSD are due within 14 days, by 11 December 2026.
4. 20 April 2029: TOP is issued. Property tax runs from this date. We assume the CSC comes later, so the earlier date, TOP, sets the six-month deadline to sell the first home: 20 October 2029.
5. 14 September 2029: the buyer of the couple’s first home exercises an option that we assume is not subject to signing a later S&PA, so this is the date of sale, inside the 20 October 2029 deadline. If the couple did not declare their intention to sell and claim the refund in the e-Stamping form, their refund application is due by 14 March 2030.
6. 27 November 2030: four years after the assumed date of purchase. A sale on or after this date falls outside the SSD period.

What to ask your lawyer to confirm in writing

• The date of purchase for ABSD and SSD, and the document it comes from.
• The date BSD and ABSD must be paid by.
• The option expiry date, and whether any extension has been agreed in writing.
• For an upgrader: the date to sell the first home by, and whether the intention to sell is declared in the e-Stamping form.
• The date SSD would stop applying.
• Who is named to receive IRAS property tax notices after transfer.

When should you recheck these dates?

Checked 17 October 2026. The SSD holding period went from three to four years for purchases on and after 4 July 2025 with no transition period, so rules can change at short notice. Recheck the IRAS and URA pages above before you sign and after any Budget or cooling-measure announcement, and MOE’s page (last updated 30 September 2026) before the 2027 P1 registration exercise, since its worked example was for 2026. For the terms used here, see our new launch glossary; for the wider research sequence, start under Start your research.