Now, since the news of my land lady wanting to sell the flat away, we are busy looking for a new flat. We've scoured online and newspaper classified ads. And its really disheartening to see that people are really taking advantage of the situation to hike up the rental market for a reasonably nice fully furnished 2 room flat (ie 2 bedrooms, 1 hall, 2 bathrooms.. not those types with a hole in the ground, kitchen) to $2,500 (not even near MRT or town area). Its crazy. The asking price for the whole flat? $300,000. Valuation by the government for the same flat? $260,000. Loan only gives 80% of the valuation. The total cash that you have to fork out? $92,000. You tell me, how to afford a place here?
Now the increase in rice which in turn also increased OTHER costs... (go figure). These little bit of things add up to one BIG headache. Added with the fact that I'm currently expecting. We are not earning mega bucks in Singapore terms. We are here to save for a future. At this point, we are thinking whether its still viable to actually work here at all, when half of my salary goes into rental and the increase in costs. I'm wondering if all foreigners in Singapore is thinking of the same thing (for those whose rentals are not paid by their companies, and all middle class income earners). I'm wondering how companies keep up with paying their expats' rentals for them to stay in condominiums. Some of them costs above $3,000 - $4,000 per month.
I've come accross forums where there are people complaining about this fact and some nasty commentors asking us foreign workers to play far far away. Hmm.. maybe we should then. ;) We'll see how Singapore will float after this. Otherwise, why would they promote foreign talent anyway if they dont really need us?
Anyway, since the scarce of affordable flats, more and more Singaporeans are looking towards resale flats... and they themselves also cannot afford it. Ironic isnt it?
Labels: cost of living, Rental in Singapore