Insights
Published 16 September 2026 · process and duty deadlines as at September 2026.
From the Option to Purchase to completion of the sale, the opening sequence at Cecil Place runs eight weeks and accounts for 20% of the price plus GST, the Buyer’s Stamp Duty and the legal fee. Everything after that is tied to construction progress rather than to the calendar.
A unit is secured with a 5% booking fee plus GST on the grant of the Option to Purchase, paid by cheque or cashier’s order. Before that point the work is choosing the unit: level, size and use, against the floor plans and the balance units chart. If an option is ultimately not exercised, the customary split is half the booking fee forfeited and half refunded, with the exact terms printed on the option itself.
The agreement is issued to your solicitor about two weeks after the booking fee. This is the point to have the bank’s letter of offer signed, because the exercise deadline that follows is short and a facility that is still in credit review is the usual reason a buyer runs late.
The agreement must be exercised within three weeks of receipt. Buyer’s Stamp Duty is payable to IRAS within 14 days of exercise where the document is signed in Singapore, on the five-band commercial scale that tops out at 5% above $1,500,000 — $494,600 on a $10,500,000 unit. The legal fee falls in the same window. Both are cash; neither is financed. The stamp duty and GST page sets out the bands.
The balance of the opening 20% falls due with its GST. At a 90% facility the bank draws its share at this point, once the mortgage is in place; at 70% or 80% the whole of the opening period is funded by the buyer. From here the purchase moves onto the construction schedule.
Foundation and reinforced concrete framework carry 10% each; walls, ceiling, doors and windows, electrical, sanitary and air-conditioning works, and car park, roads and drains carry 5% each; the Temporary Occupation Permit carries 25% and completion of the sale the final 10%. Every stage carries 9% GST, payable in cash, and the bank draws down in step. The full table is on the payment scheme page and the purchase calculator runs it against a price you enter.
Three things shorten the process: a shortlist of units by level and size, an indication of financing from a bank that already knows the buying entity, and a decision on which entity is buying — the last of which drives the GST position described in the insight on GST. With those settled, the eight weeks are administrative. Book a slot at the sales gallery or send an enquiry from the contact page, and the Sales Concierge will set out the schedule for the unit you have in mind.