1 Apr 2012, 9.27AM
Under a new ruling introduced last year, PRs must declare if they own any properties back home and those who have are not allowed to purchase resale flats unless they dispose their existing property within six months upon the completion of the sale of the resale flat.
One PRC netizen replied:
“Don’t think it matters. Who will go to China and check? Only need two PRs to buy a resale HDB flat in Singapore.”
(没有吧，谁会查到国内去啊…两个pr就可以买了)
Another PRC netizen added:
“Usually won’t check, but you need to sign a document declaring that you do not own properties overseas. If discovered, your HDB flat will be repossessed and the money you paid for it will not be refunded.”
(一般是不会查的，但是你买的时候是需要签一个没有海外资产的文件的，如果查到房子没收，交的钱不会退。)
In most other countries, public housing is reserved for citizens only, but in Singapore, PRs are allowed to purchase resale HDB flats which contributed partially to the sky-rocketing prices in recent years.
Not only are the housing policies lax, PRs are also not subjected to a capital tax gain when they sold their resale flats thereby enabling a number of them to make a hefty profit when they sold their flats and leave Singapore for good subsequently.