Cheap accomodation in sg?
 

Hi me and my family are moving to Singapore in jan 2013, and we are looking for accomodation within the budget of 2500. I have looked on property guru ect but I wanted an alternative opinion, Can anyone advise me on which area would be suitable? Or if this budget is totally unrealistic.

Re: Cheap accomodation in sg?
 

Depends on the size of your family.
Of course it is possible, not easy and it won't be much more than basic or quite old and not newly decorated.
Try and squeeze some more allowance from your employers.

Re: Cheap accomodation in sg?
 

Thanks ex reg, it's only 2 adults and a baby. I have spoken to singaporean friends of mine and they said its possible. We could stretch the budget to 3000 but we would rather not for the first year of settling in. I have had a mixed response from the letting agencies so i am still optimistic :)

Re: Cheap accomodation in sg?
 

Although house prices continue to rise here rentals have dropped a bit, not much but a bit.
I think you'll find something available in most areas and you may be lucky at 2500 because with the rentals dropping a bit it's because the demand has fallen from ex pats on ex pat allowances.
I'm guessing that a 2 bed condo will be what you look for.

Re: Cheap accomodation in sg?
 

That's reassuring news, I did get the impression from one of the agencies that because we are expats we would be expected to be living the ' high life' ect. I looked into condos but the agencies said the most we would get is gov housing which I don't mind but the agency seemed to present it as the lowest type of a accomodation out there in Singapore, despite the fact almost 90% of Singaporeans are housed this way?

Re: Cheap accomodation in sg?
 

Government Housing also known as HDB might be a minefield for you in some respects.
The rules keep changing so it might be best to check the HDB website.

But imo nothing wrong with staying in HDB's. In fact I was going to suggest it in my post above but because of the rules thought I'd leave it for the time being.
A 3 bedroom HDB is a standard 1000 square feet floor area. Generally they are closer to shops, supermarkets, MRT and bus routes than condos but they don't have facilities such as swimming pools, gyms, tennis courts, BBQ pits etc available. Saying that the SSC ensures public gyms, swimming pools running tracks etc are available to all within probably a 10 minute walk.

Older HDBs were maybe a max of 12 floors high.
The latest ones are being built up to 40 and 50 floors and some units have recently been resold for over 500,000 quid.
Of course your neighbours in HDB will more than likely be locals and sometimes they have unfamiliar habits but nothing wrong with that and some would say they are easier to live next to than the jumped up ex pats you find in condos whose habits can be worse.

Re: Cheap accomodation in sg?
 

That's really helpful thank you for all your advice ex reg! :)