What it costs to be a foreign property buyer

If you are British, or an expatriate professional in Hong Kong or Singapore, you have probably assumed that buying property abroad means accepting a foreigner surcharge as the cost of doing business. In most markets that is exactly right, and over the last decade those surcharges have risen sharply.

What follows is the comparison, with sources. We sell Abu Dhabi property, so we have an obvious interest in the conclusion. The figures are all publicly verifiable, and the caveats section exists because the headline numbers alone would mislead you.

The headline: acquisition cost as a foreign buyer

Singapore's Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty for foreigners has stood at 60% since 27 April 2023, applied flat to any residential purchase regardless of whether it is your first or your fifth. Layered on top of Buyer's Stamp Duty of up to 6%, published analysis of a SGD 2 million condominium puts total duty at roughly SGD 1.3 million, about 65% of the purchase price.

For context on how fast that moved: ABSD for foreigners was 15% in 2013, 20% in 2018, 30% in 2021, and 60% from 2023. It is not a historical quirk, it is deliberate policy, and the Singapore government has indicated easing would only be considered once the market has clearly stabilised.

The UK position, for British buyers

If you are a UK resident buying an additional UK property, you face standard Stamp Duty Land Tax plus the additional dwellings surcharge. If you are non-UK resident, a further surcharge applies on top of that. Between them these can add a meaningful percentage to a purchase before you have paid a solicitor.

Rates and thresholds have changed repeatedly in recent years, so rather than publish a figure that dates, run your specific purchase through the HMRC stamp duty calculator on gov.uk. The directional point stands: the UK has been steadily increasing the cost of being an additional-property or non-resident buyer, not reducing it.

There is a second effect UK investors underweight. Abu Dhabi levies no annual property tax, whereas a UK property carries council tax liabilities during voids, and UK rental profits are taxed with finance costs restricted to a basic rate credit. The entry cost is visible. The holding cost is the one that quietly erodes returns.

Hong Kong, where the picture changed

Hong Kong is the market we would treat with the most caution in a comparison like this, because it moved significantly in 2024 when the government withdrew property cooling measures that had been in place for over a decade.

Reporting since then is inconsistent, with some sources still citing a 15% rate for non-permanent-resident buyers and others describing the surcharges as removed. If you are in Hong Kong, verify the current position directly with the Inland Revenue Department before relying on any comparison, including this one.

The more relevant point for a Hong Kong-based investor is probably not stamp duty at all. It is concentration. If you own Hong Kong property, work for a Hong Kong employer and are paid in a currency pegged to the US dollar, a great deal of your net worth sits behind one set of local outcomes. Diversification is the argument, not tax arbitrage.

What you are actually comparing

Acquisition cost is one line. Here is the fuller picture for an overseas buyer.

The caveats, which matter more than the table

Anyone showing you only the first table is selling. Five things that cut the other way:

1. You are taxed where you live, not where you buy. The UAE levies nothing, but a UK resident remains liable to UK tax on worldwide rental income and gains. Because no UAE tax is paid, there is no foreign tax credit to offset, so the full UK rate applies. Zero local tax is not zero tax.
2. Liquidity is worth something. Singapore and London let you exit quickly at a knowable price. Abu Dhabi's resale market is thinner. That is a real cost that does not appear as a percentage anywhere.
3. Currency. The dirham is pegged to the US dollar, so for a sterling investor an Abu Dhabi property is effectively a dollar asset. Your returns in pounds move with GBP against USD regardless of the property.
4. Service charges. The cost overseas buyers most consistently underestimate in the UAE, and there is no direct UK equivalent at that level. Get the projected figure per square foot before committing.
5. Track record. London and Singapore have decades of price history through multiple cycles. Abu Dhabi's current growth phase is recent. Less history means less to reason from.

Who this genuinely suits

Not everyone. Being honest about that is more useful than pretending otherwise.

It suits you if:

• You are an expatriate professional in Singapore or Hong Kong, priced out of buying locally by surcharges, holding cash you want in property
• You are a British investor whose portfolio is entirely UK residential and entirely sterling
• You want residency optionality, since the AED 2m threshold opens the ten year Golden Visa and neither Singapore nor the UK offers a comparable property route
• Your horizon is seven years or more

It does not suit you if:

• You might need the capital back within two or three years
• You want to walk through the building before you buy, repeatedly
• You need the income to be predictable from month one, as off-plan pays nothing until handover
• A 2% entry cost is the main reason you are interested, which is optimising the smallest variable in the equation

Sources

• Singapore ABSD and BSD rates: IRAS, as reported by PropertyGuru Singapore and multiple 2026 market guides. ABSD at 60% for foreigners since 27 April 2023.
• UK SDLT: HMRC, gov.uk. Rates and surcharges change, so verify against the official calculator.
• Hong Kong: cooling measures withdrawn in 2024, subsequent reporting inconsistent. Verify with the Inland Revenue Department.
• Abu Dhabi: 2% registration fee, no annual property tax, no local income or capital gains tax on individuals.

Read next

• Buying Abu Dhabi property from the UK, the full guide to tax, currency, mortgages and remote completion
• The Abu Dhabi Golden Visa through property, and where the rules differ from Dubai
• Sei Saadiyat, from AED 2.95m in the Cultural District

General information, not financial, tax or legal advice, and not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy. We are a licensed brokerage transacting Abu Dhabi property and are therefore not a neutral party. Tax rates and property regulations change frequently and vary by individual circumstance and residency status. Every figure here should be verified against the relevant tax authority before you act on it. Current as at September 2026. Property values can fall as well as rise.