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Rubbish. I spent 5 years living in Sydney, Australia, before moving to Singapore. Unless you want to live a high roller expat life-style in a condo and own a c

Rubbish. I spent 5 years living in Sydney, Australia, before moving to Singapore. Unless you want to live a high roller expat life-style in a condo and own a car, Singapore is NOT expensive. And please don't refer to that terrible study that puts Singapore as the most expensive place to live, it's designed for companies to create packages for people for recruitment. It includes things like owning a car (something that is definitely not needed in Singapore), the price of alcohol (not a requirement to live), and living in an expensive condo (HDB's are excluded from the study) Sydney on the other hand, costs more for an apartment in the city, public transport is more expensive, especially taxis, food and drink is more expensive (exception is Alcohol and Beef), utilities (power/gas/internet) is all more expensive. My last tax bill in Sydney was about 22k when I left. My first full year in Singapore was like ~3k, and the government gave $1000 back. And the best part about it is you see all your money going back into the country, rather than lining the pockets of individuals to pass the blame on the failing like they do in Australia/New Zealand.

CyberDildonics 11y ago
HDBs are still expensive. 2k SG for a small 2 bedroom HDB and very expensive electricity are not a good mix and there are very few studio or 1 bedroom HDBs. In most non coastal cities in the US you can get a studio for $600 USD.
- nickpsecurity 11y ago
  In U.S. South near big cities, you can easily get a whole house with 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, kitchen, back/front yard, electricity, and high-speed Internet all for about $1,300 a month. Cheaper if you are about 10 minutes out into rural areas. Either people make serious money in Singapore or their poor are pretty crunched in terms of living space. I don't have data to answer that.
  - philliphaydon 11y ago
    Hmm I did a quick search for New York - Downtown, as I figure in terms of status and location that seems comparable to Singapore. The prices seem to range from 3k to 15k / month. This is like living in a Condo in Singapore. http://streeteasy.com/for-rent/downtown/beds:2 http://streeteasy.com/for-rent/downtown/beds:2 Feel free to correct me, I've only been to America a couple of times, so I don't know the most appropriate place to search for comparison. Rent would be considered a lot for most Singaporeans, however being ang moh I automatically pay more anyway. I know people living in my building who pay half what I pay in rent simply because they are Singaporean. Also young Singaporeans live at home with their parents well into their 20s, and often get engaged and order an HDB which they start paying before they get married. They are not allowed to move in (by law) until they are married, and can only buy as a single if they are over the age of (35) i believe. This is to encourage marriage. Likewise the lack of single bedroom HDBs is to encourage starting a family by having the rooms available. etc. ---- I pay $2600/m (divided by 2 because I live with someone else) for a 2 bedroom hdb, that's bigger than the $2800 2bedroom apartment I had living in Sydney. My power bill in Sydney was about $210/m while in Singapore its about $110/m. Internet in Sydney was about $120/m for ADSL2+ (that connected at 2.5mbit) while in Singapore I pay $59 for uncapped, unthrottled, 1gb down / 500mbit up. Taxi in Sydney cost me $27 to get to work in the morning. In Singapore, it takes 3x as long to get to work in a taxi and costs $10. Train in Sydney cost me about $7/day and because it was only a few stops it would cost more to get a monthly or yearly pass than to just pay each day. Singapore costs me $1.18 to get to work and $0.90 to get home. Basically my cost of living has significantly dropped living in Singapore. I'm not saying its like that for everyone. People I work with live in Condo's and pay a lot more than I do.
    - nickpsecurity 11y ago
      "New York - Downtown, as I figure in terms of status and location that seems comparable to Singapore." "Feel free to correct me, I've only been to America a couple of times, so I don't know the most appropriate place to search for comparison." You narrowed the scope of our conversation to one of the most expensive and famous parts of the entire United States to compare to the average of Singapore? At least you offered that you don't know where to do the comparison. ;) In my area (Memphis Metropolitan), there's tons of businesses, restaurants, activities, service sector, events... you name it. It's not even one of best areas: actually a bad one. Yet, just around $1000 a month. Lots of areas in the South are like that where I hear some suburbs in Northeast near tech capitals are as well. West is expensive everywhere. Good parts of big name cities like NYC, LA, Chicago, etc are as well. So, it's best to avoid comparisons with those as mostly rich people live there. The rest of us dare not try. :) "I know people living in my building who pay half what I pay in rent simply because they are Singaporean." Never heard of this before. How does that work? "They are not allowed to move in (by law) until they are married, and can only buy as a single if they are over the age of (35) i believe." That's really messed up. Thanks for telling me, though. "I pay..." Your house is double or more what many Americans will pay in rent. The power bill is reasonable if that comes with water. Or does water come with rent or free? The internet leaves me jealouse: I heard you had uncapped Gigabit but didn't know how many or how much. $59/mo. Wow. Corruption is preventing that here with a handful of cities having gigabit ranging from a little above that to $350/mo. Corruption puts me at 50Mbps down with a cap for $70/mo. "Taxi in Sydney cost me $27 to get to work in the morning. In Singapore, it takes 3x as long to get to work in a taxi and costs $10." Hmm. I've always wondered about this tradeoff but have no hard data on it. It happens here. In cities, people taxi or walk to work. Rates I paid were similar. Out here in suburbs, we mostly own cars to do that 20-30min drive I mentioned. Gas is maybe $5 a day. Car and insurance can be had for as little as $600 a month for 4 years. Interesting enough, that puts it at about the same rate per day although we pay with or without a trip to work. Ego reasons mean many people pay a lot more for their car, though. ;) "Basically my cost of living has significantly dropped living in Singapore." That I believe. Australians tell me the country is expensive to live in if we're talking the cities. You might have dropped your cost of living moving to... anywhere. Just kidding but cities cost $$$ in First World countries with Singapore obviously cheaper. So, what kind of work do you do? With good hours, wages, and breaks? Is that average for your area?
doppp 11y ago
Good to see you are enjoying your stay in SG, Phillip. Hacker News comments on Singapore are always a great reminder that a majority of opinions on social media are laughably misinformed and ignorant. Being verbose and decent technologists != able to source accurately and provide cogent arguments without letting personal biases get in the way. The last time this happened, people were quoting Kenneth Jeyaretnam, James D Ross and Roy Ngerng as credible sources. In fact, it is happening right in this very thread. Don't waste your energy, Phillip. :)
- CyberDildonics 11y ago
  > laughably misinformed and ignorant. How many more decades should I live here before I'm no longer ignorant?

CyberDildonics 11y ago

HDBs are still expensive. 2k SG for a small 2 bedroom HDB and very expensive electricity are not a good mix and there are very few studio or 1 bedroom HDBs. In most non coastal cities in the US you can get a studio for $600 USD.

nickpsecurity 11y ago
In U.S. South near big cities, you can easily get a whole house with 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, kitchen, back/front yard, electricity, and high-speed Internet all for about $1,300 a month. Cheaper if you are about 10 minutes out into rural areas. Either people make serious money in Singapore or their poor are pretty crunched in terms of living space. I don't have data to answer that.
- philliphaydon 11y ago
  Hmm I did a quick search for New York - Downtown, as I figure in terms of status and location that seems comparable to Singapore. The prices seem to range from 3k to 15k / month. This is like living in a Condo in Singapore. http://streeteasy.com/for-rent/downtown/beds:2 http://streeteasy.com/for-rent/downtown/beds:2 Feel free to correct me, I've only been to America a couple of times, so I don't know the most appropriate place to search for comparison. Rent would be considered a lot for most Singaporeans, however being ang moh I automatically pay more anyway. I know people living in my building who pay half what I pay in rent simply because they are Singaporean. Also young Singaporeans live at home with their parents well into their 20s, and often get engaged and order an HDB which they start paying before they get married. They are not allowed to move in (by law) until they are married, and can only buy as a single if they are over the age of (35) i believe. This is to encourage marriage. Likewise the lack of single bedroom HDBs is to encourage starting a family by having the rooms available. etc. ---- I pay $2600/m (divided by 2 because I live with someone else) for a 2 bedroom hdb, that's bigger than the $2800 2bedroom apartment I had living in Sydney. My power bill in Sydney was about $210/m while in Singapore its about $110/m. Internet in Sydney was about $120/m for ADSL2+ (that connected at 2.5mbit) while in Singapore I pay $59 for uncapped, unthrottled, 1gb down / 500mbit up. Taxi in Sydney cost me $27 to get to work in the morning. In Singapore, it takes 3x as long to get to work in a taxi and costs $10. Train in Sydney cost me about $7/day and because it was only a few stops it would cost more to get a monthly or yearly pass than to just pay each day. Singapore costs me $1.18 to get to work and $0.90 to get home. Basically my cost of living has significantly dropped living in Singapore. I'm not saying its like that for everyone. People I work with live in Condo's and pay a lot more than I do.
  - nickpsecurity 11y ago
    "New York - Downtown, as I figure in terms of status and location that seems comparable to Singapore." "Feel free to correct me, I've only been to America a couple of times, so I don't know the most appropriate place to search for comparison." You narrowed the scope of our conversation to one of the most expensive and famous parts of the entire United States to compare to the average of Singapore? At least you offered that you don't know where to do the comparison. ;) In my area (Memphis Metropolitan), there's tons of businesses, restaurants, activities, service sector, events... you name it. It's not even one of best areas: actually a bad one. Yet, just around $1000 a month. Lots of areas in the South are like that where I hear some suburbs in Northeast near tech capitals are as well. West is expensive everywhere. Good parts of big name cities like NYC, LA, Chicago, etc are as well. So, it's best to avoid comparisons with those as mostly rich people live there. The rest of us dare not try. :) "I know people living in my building who pay half what I pay in rent simply because they are Singaporean." Never heard of this before. How does that work? "They are not allowed to move in (by law) until they are married, and can only buy as a single if they are over the age of (35) i believe." That's really messed up. Thanks for telling me, though. "I pay..." Your house is double or more what many Americans will pay in rent. The power bill is reasonable if that comes with water. Or does water come with rent or free? The internet leaves me jealouse: I heard you had uncapped Gigabit but didn't know how many or how much. $59/mo. Wow. Corruption is preventing that here with a handful of cities having gigabit ranging from a little above that to $350/mo. Corruption puts me at 50Mbps down with a cap for $70/mo. "Taxi in Sydney cost me $27 to get to work in the morning. In Singapore, it takes 3x as long to get to work in a taxi and costs $10." Hmm. I've always wondered about this tradeoff but have no hard data on it. It happens here. In cities, people taxi or walk to work. Rates I paid were similar. Out here in suburbs, we mostly own cars to do that 20-30min drive I mentioned. Gas is maybe $5 a day. Car and insurance can be had for as little as $600 a month for 4 years. Interesting enough, that puts it at about the same rate per day although we pay with or without a trip to work. Ego reasons mean many people pay a lot more for their car, though. ;) "Basically my cost of living has significantly dropped living in Singapore." That I believe. Australians tell me the country is expensive to live in if we're talking the cities. You might have dropped your cost of living moving to... anywhere. Just kidding but cities cost $$$ in First World countries with Singapore obviously cheaper. So, what kind of work do you do? With good hours, wages, and breaks? Is that average for your area?

doppp 11y ago

Good to see you are enjoying your stay in SG, Phillip. Hacker News comments on Singapore are always a great reminder that a majority of opinions on social media are laughably misinformed and ignorant. Being verbose and decent technologists != able to source accurately and provide cogent arguments without letting personal biases get in the way. The last time this happened, people were quoting Kenneth Jeyaretnam, James D Ross and Roy Ngerng as credible sources. In fact, it is happening right in this very thread. Don't waste your energy, Phillip. :)

CyberDildonics 11y ago
> laughably misinformed and ignorant. How many more decades should I live here before I'm no longer ignorant?