Best places to live in Singapore
Oct 27th 2005, 8:59 pm
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Tapping
Posts: 104
Best places to live in Singapore
Hi all,
We are looking to move to Singapore March'06 with hubbies work and would like some advice on areas to rent in (company housing allowance).
We have checked out and found districts 8-12 seem to be were expats like to live, we are keen to say within expat community with international schooling close by.
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Also seems to be rather difficult to get pictures of accommodation to rent does anyone know of good websites ?
Thanks
We are looking to move to Singapore March'06 with hubbies work and would like some advice on areas to rent in (company housing allowance).
We have checked out and found districts 8-12 seem to be were expats like to live, we are keen to say within expat community with international schooling close by.
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Also seems to be rather difficult to get pictures of accommodation to rent does anyone know of good websites ?
Thanks
Oct 30th 2005, 2:59 am
#2
.
Joined: Nov 2002
Location: Where bad things rarely happen in movies
Posts: 8,933
Re: Best places to live in Singapore
Hi there,
I'm not going to be a lot of use (I'm 3 years out of date, so can't make specific comments on whats good now) but no-one else has answered so thought I'd give you my 2 cents!
They throw condo's up frighteningly quickly, and the market goes up and down like a yo-yo, so got no idea whether rents are high or low at the moment, but when you get there, make sure to talk to locals in your office and expats as well and you'll very quickly get a feel for how strong your negotiating position is.
I can't think of any sites with photos offhand, but guess you'll find some with a quick google. If you're getting a company relocation, I guess you'll be provided an agent to help show you round? Just make sure you don't jump at the early places they show you - have a very good look round first, making sure to get a look at different areas as well as different ages of condos (the older ones may have larger rooms, and better facilities, if they're not too old). The standard of units even within the same condo will vary considerably depending on renovation levels, so if you like a condo but not the unit he has shown you, keep plugging the agent to show you more in the same place. I found the condo I wanted to live in, but the agent told me there was only one unit available (which it turned out was his friends!) but it was appallingly decorated. I pushed and pushed to see more, but he said there weren't any, so I looked in the straits times, found 4 more, viewed them and booked one without him!
You'll soon find that nowhere is very far in Singapore, and public transport and taxis are incredibly cheap, so unless you need to be near the american school, or you're going to be working say in the shipyards in the north, or the refineries in the west, pretty much anywhere in the central/south area will probably work. Get hold of a map, stick a compass in Sentosa then draw an arc thru Clementi/Bukit Timah/Katong/Bedok, that'll pretty much include 95% of the expat areas (excluding a large contingent of american schoolers on the north coast). We started out on the West Coast (Telok Blangah) , couple of years later moved right into the CBD (Central Business District) then 3 years later moved to the East Coast (Katong). We never tried living to the North of the city (up Bukit Timah road), but had friends who did and they loved it. There will be a large choice of condos in most of the areas within that arc I described - most will have great facilities (pools, tennis, gym etc) and very different characters, so check out as many as you can before 'plumping'. I think the best time we had was in our last place - it wasn't the plushest condo, but it was in a really characterful area, with a lower proportion of expats, so a bit more "real world", or as close as Singapore gets.
I'm not going to be a lot of use (I'm 3 years out of date, so can't make specific comments on whats good now) but no-one else has answered so thought I'd give you my 2 cents!
They throw condo's up frighteningly quickly, and the market goes up and down like a yo-yo, so got no idea whether rents are high or low at the moment, but when you get there, make sure to talk to locals in your office and expats as well and you'll very quickly get a feel for how strong your negotiating position is.
I can't think of any sites with photos offhand, but guess you'll find some with a quick google. If you're getting a company relocation, I guess you'll be provided an agent to help show you round? Just make sure you don't jump at the early places they show you - have a very good look round first, making sure to get a look at different areas as well as different ages of condos (the older ones may have larger rooms, and better facilities, if they're not too old). The standard of units even within the same condo will vary considerably depending on renovation levels, so if you like a condo but not the unit he has shown you, keep plugging the agent to show you more in the same place. I found the condo I wanted to live in, but the agent told me there was only one unit available (which it turned out was his friends!) but it was appallingly decorated. I pushed and pushed to see more, but he said there weren't any, so I looked in the straits times, found 4 more, viewed them and booked one without him!
You'll soon find that nowhere is very far in Singapore, and public transport and taxis are incredibly cheap, so unless you need to be near the american school, or you're going to be working say in the shipyards in the north, or the refineries in the west, pretty much anywhere in the central/south area will probably work. Get hold of a map, stick a compass in Sentosa then draw an arc thru Clementi/Bukit Timah/Katong/Bedok, that'll pretty much include 95% of the expat areas (excluding a large contingent of american schoolers on the north coast). We started out on the West Coast (Telok Blangah) , couple of years later moved right into the CBD (Central Business District) then 3 years later moved to the East Coast (Katong). We never tried living to the North of the city (up Bukit Timah road), but had friends who did and they loved it. There will be a large choice of condos in most of the areas within that arc I described - most will have great facilities (pools, tennis, gym etc) and very different characters, so check out as many as you can before 'plumping'. I think the best time we had was in our last place - it wasn't the plushest condo, but it was in a really characterful area, with a lower proportion of expats, so a bit more "real world", or as close as Singapore gets.
Nov 1st 2005, 7:07 pm
#3
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Tapping
Posts: 104
Re: Best places to live in Singapore
Originally Posted by Yorkieabroad
Hi there,
I'm not going to be a lot of use (I'm 3 years out of date, so can't make specific comments on whats good now) but no-one else has answered so thought I'd give you my 2 cents!
They throw condo's up frighteningly quickly, and the market goes up and down like a yo-yo, so got no idea whether rents are high or low at the moment, but when you get there, make sure to talk to locals in your office and expats as well and you'll very quickly get a feel for how strong your negotiating position is.
I can't think of any sites with photos offhand, but guess you'll find some with a quick google. If you're getting a company relocation, I guess you'll be provided an agent to help show you round? Just make sure you don't jump at the early places they show you - have a very good look round first, making sure to get a look at different areas as well as different ages of condos (the older ones may have larger rooms, and better facilities, if they're not too old). The standard of units even within the same condo will vary considerably depending on renovation levels, so if you like a condo but not the unit he has shown you, keep plugging the agent to show you more in the same place. I found the condo I wanted to live in, but the agent told me there was only one unit available (which it turned out was his friends!) but it was appallingly decorated. I pushed and pushed to see more, but he said there weren't any, so I looked in the straits times, found 4 more, viewed them and booked one without him!
You'll soon find that nowhere is very far in Singapore, and public transport and taxis are incredibly cheap, so unless you need to be near the american school, or you're going to be working say in the shipyards in the north, or the refineries in the west, pretty much anywhere in the central/south area will probably work. Get hold of a map, stick a compass in Sentosa then draw an arc thru Clementi/Bukit Timah/Katong/Bedok, that'll pretty much include 95% of the expat areas (excluding a large contingent of american schoolers on the north coast). We started out on the West Coast (Telok Blangah) , couple of years later moved right into the CBD (Central Business District) then 3 years later moved to the East Coast (Katong). We never tried living to the North of the city (up Bukit Timah road), but had friends who did and they loved it. There will be a large choice of condos in most of the areas within that arc I described - most will have great facilities (pools, tennis, gym etc) and very different characters, so check out as many as you can before 'plumping'. I think the best time we had was in our last place - it wasn't the plushest condo, but it was in a really characterful area, with a lower proportion of expats, so a bit more "real world", or as close as Singapore gets.
I'm not going to be a lot of use (I'm 3 years out of date, so can't make specific comments on whats good now) but no-one else has answered so thought I'd give you my 2 cents!
They throw condo's up frighteningly quickly, and the market goes up and down like a yo-yo, so got no idea whether rents are high or low at the moment, but when you get there, make sure to talk to locals in your office and expats as well and you'll very quickly get a feel for how strong your negotiating position is.
I can't think of any sites with photos offhand, but guess you'll find some with a quick google. If you're getting a company relocation, I guess you'll be provided an agent to help show you round? Just make sure you don't jump at the early places they show you - have a very good look round first, making sure to get a look at different areas as well as different ages of condos (the older ones may have larger rooms, and better facilities, if they're not too old). The standard of units even within the same condo will vary considerably depending on renovation levels, so if you like a condo but not the unit he has shown you, keep plugging the agent to show you more in the same place. I found the condo I wanted to live in, but the agent told me there was only one unit available (which it turned out was his friends!) but it was appallingly decorated. I pushed and pushed to see more, but he said there weren't any, so I looked in the straits times, found 4 more, viewed them and booked one without him!
You'll soon find that nowhere is very far in Singapore, and public transport and taxis are incredibly cheap, so unless you need to be near the american school, or you're going to be working say in the shipyards in the north, or the refineries in the west, pretty much anywhere in the central/south area will probably work. Get hold of a map, stick a compass in Sentosa then draw an arc thru Clementi/Bukit Timah/Katong/Bedok, that'll pretty much include 95% of the expat areas (excluding a large contingent of american schoolers on the north coast). We started out on the West Coast (Telok Blangah) , couple of years later moved right into the CBD (Central Business District) then 3 years later moved to the East Coast (Katong). We never tried living to the North of the city (up Bukit Timah road), but had friends who did and they loved it. There will be a large choice of condos in most of the areas within that arc I described - most will have great facilities (pools, tennis, gym etc) and very different characters, so check out as many as you can before 'plumping'. I think the best time we had was in our last place - it wasn't the plushest condo, but it was in a really characterful area, with a lower proportion of expats, so a bit more "real world", or as close as Singapore gets.
Hi Yorkieabroad,
Many thanks for your reply.
bye
Dec 22nd 2005, 3:57 pm
#4
Just Joined
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 10
Re: Best places to live in Singapore
Yes if you are really looking to stay in Singapore with the area with more expats...then it would be somewhere between Bukit Timah and Orchard/Scotts Road. These are where all the expats are heavily seen. But for such areas, the price is usually rocketting like crazy so using ur company's allowance might be a good use. Incase u need more info you can find them here at www.singaporeexpats.com 
