Hi guys, I'll be heading to Singapore for work soon. Office is at harbour front area.

I've been looking around for a room to rent, with the aim of eventually renting a whole unit around 3 months later (when my wife gets her internal transfer).

My question is:
-is room rental rate the same regardless of location? I've been looking at toa payoh, bedok, Bukit merah.... all around SGD800/month
-ive been looking at whole unit for rent too, and the rental rate is also about the same. SGD3200-3400 at Bukit merah for 1140sqft. Around SGD3000 for less nice looking, slightly more sqft in jurong west.
-am I missing something? shouldn't it cost more the nearer u r to cbd? or that only applies when u buy the unit?

Thanks!

Thanks for your input deodorant. Wife's internal transfer isn't something guaranteed, just verbal agreement. Furthermore, it's quite taxing on me to pay 3.4k/month for 3 months on my own. To think of it, might be cheaper to forfeit 3 months of SGD800 rent than 3 months of 3.4k rent with no certainty 🙁.

But back to my question, the rental rate (room or whole unit) doesn't depend much on location?

Yes you're right. The area that I was looking at in Bukit Merah is not that near to a MRT station. Distance is pretty near to office, wonder if cycling is viable. Else it's just bus (which some here mentioned it's not that crowded compared to MRT during peak hours).


That's right, jurong west is pretty far away. I was using that location to compare with somewhere nearer to the cbd, and the price is more or less the same. Probably it's the age of the building and proximity to MRT that makes a specific place in bukit merah cost the same as somewhere in jurong west, as KilJim said. Not thinking about living in a "big" sqft hdb/condo anytime soon, as you've said. More of trying to get to know the area and save some funds before my wife (and kid) go over. Renting a studio seems pretty costly and will significantly eat into my target savings. I guess I'll live like a student for the first few months.

Thanks for the replies guys. If anyone cycles to work, do share what it's like. Always thought of doing it in Malaysia, but probably will become road kill in no time. I see there's nice concrete walk path everywhere in Singapore, looks tempting. Of course, there's the problem of sudden rain and availability of shower room in office...

This post has been edited by gome: May 23 2022, 03:31 PM

Makes sense...the whole island is optimized for use...every area is in demand. Someone told me to rent just near where I will be working, and I was thinking "wouldn't that be super expensive??", but it makes sense now. Being a kiamsiap fella, every dollar saved now is every dollar to be enjoyed later

Thanks for your input. When my family goes over, it'll be my wife and baby...so renting a Master Room is not viable. 3.4k a month is considered overkill eh? When I looked around carousell and propertyguru, that's like the lower median price already. What's the normal "affordable" range, ~2.6k?

Since the rental rate is pretty flat regardless of location, I'm thinking why not rent nearer to the CBD (Bukit Merah? Tiong Bharu?) and cut the transport time. HDB minimum 6 months....hmm might need to tumpang at relative's house as backup plan if can't find room at condo

Yeah, my situation is that I plan to rent a room for about 3 months before my family comes over, after which I'll then rent a whole unit. Seems like I can't rent a room in a HDB for just 3 months, because the minimum is 6 months. So as some has advised, condo is the only way to go for that 3 month room rent.

Thanks for your input. The HDB whole unit rental price seems to be inline with what I'm seeing so far. ceo684 said it's overkill, maybe she knows some cheaper ones (pls pm me ). I just checked the whole unit rentals that I bookmarked 2 weeks ago, true enough, all are no longer being listed. Good luck to me

This post has been edited by gome: Jun 1 2022, 10:13 AM

Just discovered there's something called co-living space. Seems like room rental but with a short term lease of 3 months. Anyone has experience with "co-living space"?

Yes, many providing this co-living service. From the looks of it, most of them are >$1000. Back to carousell/trovit search for me.

Hello, sorry I have rental questions again. I was introduced to a landlord who was willing to rent out a room in their HDB flat for 3 months, but on an informal basis. This will not be acceptable for my EP because it's not registered with HDB, right? Anyone has experience renting a HDB flat for less than 6 months?

edit - addition questions:
1. What about living with a relative in a HDB, where no rental is involved? How does one fulfill the EP requirements? This is an option that I have, but prefer not to take.
2. Does MOM come to check where you live, and make sure that you stay there for at least 6 months (HDB) or 3 months (private apartment)?
3. If let's say I rent a HDB room for 6 months, break the contract after 3 months and move to another location, will there be any issues with the EP (assuming I've already negotiated the penalty with the landlord)?

Or basically any residential address will be sufficient to get the EP card processed, and where I stay doesn't matter, as long as it's updated by company/MOM?

This post has been edited by gome: Jun 21 2022, 10:01 AM

Yeah, seems like if the landlord gets caught, their HDB can be taken back. I've edited my post with some additional questions, hope someone can share some experience (I asked my sg HR and they're not helpful at all):

1. What about living with a relative in a HDB, where no rental is involved? How does one fulfill the EP requirements? This is an option that I have, but prefer not to take.
2. Does MOM come to check where you live, and make sure that you stay there for at least 6 months (HDB) or 3 months (private apartment)?
3. If let's say I rent a HDB room for 6 months, break the contract after 3 months and move to another location, will there be any issues with the EP (assuming I've already negotiated the penalty with the landlord)?

Or basically any residential address will be sufficient to get the EP card processed, and where I stay doesn't matter, as long as it's updated by company/MOM?

Thanks for the response. Based on the replies, doesn't it sound like landlords can easily break the "HDB lease for at least 6 months" rule if they add an occupant as their "relative"? With this, they basically they can rent out without informing HDB for any duration they desire, right?

Thanks, agreed on your view that one shouldn't be doing funny things. Just trying to be more informed, no plans on breaking the law, especially as someone who intends to move there with my family. Your input has been valuable and eye opening.

I've looked at some co-living sites. Saw a decent one offered for $850, but apparently already taken, though it's always listed on the website. I guess it's more worth it trade my time with a 1 hr+ commute from relatives place than the risk of renting 'under table' rooms

Thanks for going through the many posts and provide a reply on this. Much appreciated. I probably may have been a bit too paranoid on this, as there doesn't seem to be much discussion on this, and landlords doesn't seem too concerned on his either.

Regarding DBS account opening, I had my proof of residential address rejected twice by the online application. I was using my Malaysian address as per my IC, but got rejected. First tried with my monthly phone bill, then with an insurance statement (which unfortunately was not as recent as 3 months prior to my application time).

I eventually went down to SG DBS service branch once I got my SG residential address settled. My company also issued a letter stating my residential address in SG. Once at the branch, I still had to do my application online. But the customer service lady walked me through the entire process, where the application was done over the Web browser instead of the digibank app. Eventually my application got approved, but need to wait for them to post the card.

For those who quickly want to get a sim card once you land, I'd recommend to get the singtel $15 prepaid hicard. You can order online and collect it at the airport. I made the mistake of ordering the $8 hicard, and had to waste time at the singtel shopping mall collection point, which only opens at 11am.

I'm using unifi bebas prepaid. Only need to top up something every 3 months. Currently have <RM1 credit in my account, but able to receive sms and calls from Malaysia while in sg. Have a dual sim phone but don't want to sacrifice my sd card, so having another old phone for the malaysia number.

I've taken Starmart Express from KL (TBS) to SG, but it stops at Golden Mile Tower. SGD15 for an overnight trip. According to users on reddit, tripadvisor, etc, the best bus service is by Aeroline. I haven't taken it, but it costs SGD50 one way and stops/starts at Vivocity.


I've been at SG for only a few weeks, but I'll share what I experienced.

It's true for rental (for the why, you need to read a few pages back as other members have explained it). Do a search on propertyguru, carousell and etc and you can see that the rental rate (room or whole unit) is very high.

As for food, it's relatively still ok as long as you earn SGD - mixed rice at HDB areas can be as low as SGD2.90 (1 meat, 1 vegy, 1 egg), chicken rice, wantan mee at SGD3.50. Get the same in shopping malls and of course it's higher. I feel obligated to eat with my colleagues, so it's meal in the nearest shopping mall most of the time - SGD7.90 at a minimum.

For transport (I've only taken buses and trains), it's quite alright. As other have said before, one end of SG to another end can be as low as SGD2 (or a bit lower, if you're not in peak hour). SGD4/day to work and back.

Have only done online shopping so far - if you convert the SGD to MYR for those online prices, it's cheaper in Malaysia.

Just a note about telco MNP rules:
1. You can MNP from telco A postpaid to telco B postpaid
2. You can MNP from telco A prepaid to telco B prepaid
3. You cannot MNP from telco A prepaid to telco B postpaid
4. You can only convert from telco A prepaid to telco A postpaid

If you started out with a prepaid sim (i.e. Singtel HiCard), the normal route is to convert it to postpaid within the same telco (i.e. to some Singtel postpaid plan). This can be expensive (some telco charge for prepaid->postpaid conversion, on top of the normal postpaid plan charge).

There is a potentially cheaper alternative - convert from telco A prepaid to Simba "50GB sim only". What Simba does is they convert your current prepaid (from another telco) to Simba 'prepaid', and then immediately convert to Simba Postpaid. This works because of rule #2. Seems like Simba is the only telco that has this kind of offer. It's potentially cheaper because conversion to this Simba postpaid plan is only S$10 (free conversion and S$10 is for the postpaid plan itself). There is a penalty of S$30 if you MNP out in less than 30 days on the 50GB sim only plan.

To cut the story short, try to get a postpaid plan at the get go to have less headache when you want to MNP. My journey was Singtel HiCard->Simba->redOne. Wasted quite a bit of money because missed the window a few times (to port out, your account must have some money left, takes a few days to port out, etc etc). Simba free 1GB roaming in Malaysia rides on Celcom, but somehow the network is pretty bad. If used within Sg, Simba is alright (ranks worst coverage among telcos, but still alright I think).