Singapore Apartment Hunting w/ viewings & rent prices ✨ 2023 update ✨

[Music] if you're planning on moving to Singapore or you're just browsing the internet and are curious about how much it costs to live in basically one of the most consistently top ranked expensive places in the world then buckle up because this video is for you if you're new here my name is Sher and I'm originally from Canada but I moved to Singapore five almost six years ago now time flies and I've moved within Singapore a couple of times now so I'm going to be covering everything you need to know about living in Singapore I actually did an apartment hunting video a couple years AO and you guys loved it so today I'm going to basically share all the essentials you need to know so I've covered some of this in the past but let me just recap it summarize it and actually add a few new learnings and perspective that I've gained throughout the last couple years there are a bunch of different types of housing available in Singapore first is htb which stands for the Housing Development Board of Singapore these are essentially government-backed housing that the majority of the local Singaporean population lives in and in the past I actually mentioned how this is actually a really great Avenue to go down if you're looking to be a little more bu budget friendly because the size you're going to get is probably going to be bigger for an hdb at the same price point that you would for a private cenum so I still stand by that to be honest in the past I actually never looked at any htbs myself this time around I actually did look at a bunch of different htbs because I wanted to have a bit more space for the price point that I was looking at and there's a few things that I learned that I really want to point out one is if you're looking for an hdb that's renovated so there are so many really really Decked Out Jazzy looking hdps out there but the reality is that most people will just renovate it and live in it themselves so there's not that many on the market already and if there are renovated htbs you bet there's a lot of other people looking at it and second is if you're a foreigner in Singapore there's actually a capped quota on how many foreigners and the ratio of foreigners that live in an hdb because they want to make sure that it's fair and that's there are still options for the local population to live in so you need to actually check to make sure that you're eligible to live in that HB unit even if you really like it second are condos so these Condominiums typically are fully decked out with amenities like swimming pools tennis courts function party rooms barbecue pits all these things that are shared common spaces I would say the majority of expats and foreigners that are moving to Singapore tend to look at condos first there's a lot of them especially in like the xat hots spot areas of Singapore and it's actually what I was previously living in for the last five or so years in Singapore I love it but this time around to be honest I actually had to ask myself Sher how many times have you even used the gym or the pool at your condo I think I went to the swimming pool at my building less than 10 times in the last 2 years so when I was evaluating what I was actually looking for I realized condos actually might not be the route that's good for me this time around next you've got Heritage homes and these tend to be as the name implies slightly older homes but they're so beautiful they've got so much character and they're really really Charming you've got Shop houses like the ones on Blair Road and these are usually town hous houses and they're usually really deep multi-story super beautiful and a lot of them are actually renovated and look amazing if I could afford to live in them I would love to but they're so nice you've got Shop houses and you've also got walk up Apartments like the ones in sharu which is an area with tons of cafes these ones they don't have elevators because they're older but they're really really nice and usually the size is a little bigger because they're older homes an Avenue for you if you really love a shop house but you don't want to rent out the whole place is co- living so there are actually quite a few co- living companies available in Singapore some of them are like hemlet Cove you've got figment I've Got Friends that live in these different companies co- Living Spaces and they love it because the location tends to be really really Central and depending on how many people you want to share the apartment with there's different Siz co- Living Spaces and companies like figment actually have a lot of really really cool homes and they actually have a bunch of Shop houses that they rent out so you may even be able to rent out a whole level for yourself without having to commit to a whole building buing so that's a really great option next up on the list you've got service Apartments which are usually basically like a hotel room but slightly bigger some of them have kitchenet and they usually are servic as the name implies so you get people coming in to help you clean your room to be honest I don't know anyone that lives in a service apartment long term because it's basically like a hotel and you have someone coming in to clean your place it's really convenient but it's really atrociously bloody expensive so kind of get what you're paying for usually service departments are the about people go down if they just moved to Singapore and they're basically spending a couple months figuring out which neighborhoods they like so they're kind of looking for a temporary apartment thing you got to know about in Singapore is that it's legal to rent a place for Less Than 3 months but you're allowed to do that for hotels and service departments which is why a lot of people opt for that final on the list are landed houses and these obviously are bigger in size they're great for family and if you want a backyard you've got a doggo you want to let them run around then landed hous are a great Avenue obviously I don't really need a house for myself so not really the route we're going to go down my requirements this time around are a little different to the Past first things first is I still don't want to do co- living because I want some privacy of my own second is I actually didn't really prioritize looking at condos this time around I was looking intentionally for renovated htbs or renovated walkup Apartments Heritage homes essentially I don't mind a slightly older building if that means I get a little bit more space so Space is really the thing that I'm prioritizing this time around the one thing that I really want is a dining table I don't care if it's for four people six people eight people I don't care what size it is basically I don't want to eat on the floor on my coffee table anymore and I really want to just have a dining table that isn't my desk where I work so that is my all the specific requirement is I want a dining space and then now that I work for myself and I have my own business I actually don't need to go into the office every day of the week but if I wanted to stay at home and work I can so the commute time to work for me is a little more flexible I'd love to still be able to get into core City Center really quickly but it's not the top priority for me anymore and on that note because I do go work from home it would be ideal if I could have a study room so a second bedroom just also so that I can host my friends when they come to Singapore but it's also not a strong must because I'm conscious of my budget which is the last thing on the list uh just to give you guys a point of reference on how crazy the housing market has gotten my last apartment which you guys have seen a tour of that was a 500 something Square ft uh studio apartment and that used to go for 2.6 which is what I was paying they decided to up it to 4,200 and I was like what 4.2k for a studio apartment even despite that they didn't bring the price down so I was like yeah no absolutely not so the reality of the housing market in Singapore is that it is obviously very expensive but I think for that price point to be honest I still can find a bigger space that's a little more comfortable let's talk about the searching process so in the past I mentioned you can go on websites like Property Guru and 99.co to look for places this is probably basically the two standardized places you always go look for homes personally to this date I still like property gurus uxui more it's just so intuitive it's so easy there's often times repeat listings so it's not it's not a big deal if you just prefer one over the other to be honest the housing market was so crazy that I downloaded the app and basically any free moment that I had I was just like scrolling through and seeing what new listing there were aside from those websites there's actually a lot of Facebook groups dedicated to housing in Singapore as well and they're actually fantastic especially if you're looking to co- with other people or you're looking for people who basically for whatever reason need to leave Singapore and they've got the remainder of their lease at a really great price from when they sign their lease that you can take over usually you still negotiate but Faceook groups are a great Avenue to go down and then of course lastly you can go through an agent personally for me I still don't find the kind of use in having an agent because I like owning my own schedule and with the housing market so competitive I actually don't feel like it's very practical to have another person to talk to another person who talks to the landlord I rather just go straight into the landlord's agent and just coordinate it myself but also I just also don't want to pay the agent's fee when I can very easily do it myself but it's up to you I know that if you sign a lease that's two years or longer I believe the landlord is one that covers the agents be not you as a tenant so just look into that as well so let's say you're on Property Guru and you find a place that you love WhatsApp the agent the agents pretty much all ask similar questions which is your name your lease duration you're looking for do you have pets do you smoke what nationality what do you do what work visa you're on all these things so I usually just have a standardized copy and paste message that I sent to all of them and to be honest I don't really know why they ask you what your budget is if I'm messaging you about this apartment that is of this price point obviously it's within my budget so I don't get why people still ask for your budget anyway let's talk neighborhoods in Singapore I love this topic is there are so many great areas that you can live in in Singapore and it's so great so first you got the core CBD downtown area CBD stands for a central business district this covers I would say tallic a tum pagar Marina Bay Area just anywhere where there's still a lot of highrises and I'm just going to lump in spottiswood which is like almost bordering utan Park area all of these places are essentially walking distance or maybe at most one subway stop away from most people's office places that they work in the city this area is great there's obviously a lot of bars Friday Saturday night you can walk to places like yyac which is a street with lots of bars and restaurants however the thing to know is even though you're in close proximity to a lot of great restaurants in the evening during the day on the weekends it's kind of like a ghost town not many people will go wander around downtown because what is there to do near all the Office Buildings but it is a really great area if you're someone that works in finance you need to go work at the office very often and be able to walk to the office then you've got River Valley which is a a very nice residential area it's essentially the area I would say that's along the Singapore River so it includes Robertson key as well I love this area and my previous apartment was kind of in the general vicinity of this area as well I love it because if you're someone that loves running and walking you can do that along the river you've got tons of great cafes and restaurants and bars there and a lot of foreigners live in Robertson key River Valley area this area has a lot of young families as well so it's not uncommon to see tons of people people just pushing strollers and walking their dogs along the river so it's a very neighborhoody Vibe and I know tons of friends that live in this area and love it I would say the caveat with River Valley and Robertson key is that you're kind of living in an expat bubble with all these foreigners you're surrounded by so if you really want to get a taste of local life it's probably not the best area for that right near river valley I would say is the orchard sumerset area this is essentially one of the main shopping areas in Singapore I personally still don't don't love Orchard and Summit set because I find that it's too hectic on the weekends there's 18 million people walking around on the streets and I kind of want to be a little bit separated from that many people all the time and I'm not a huge person that loves shopping so I don't really need to be so close to these malls however it is kind of I would say almost dead smack in the middle of Singapore if you look at the map so it's a great area to be in if you want to visit all the different parts of Singapore and be very Central in that regard then you've got sharu which is a lovely neighborhood I mentioned this earlier there's a lot of walk up Heritage homes in this neighborhood a lot of them are renovated they're really beautiful and it's really nice to just scroll around chamaro has a lot of cafes and it's got a lot of murals it's got a lot of character a lot of people who have dogs love living there and it's very much a comfortable neighborhood to live in the good thing with churu is that it's also got chamaro station which is on the green line but we recently have the opened Brown Line as well so we've got havlock really close by so it's very Central and there's a lot of bus lines nearby the caveat with taru is to be honest it is a bit of a gentrified area so you've got a lot of very western style cafes but I mean to be fair you still have wet markets there you still got a pretty healthy diverse local population but you can definitely tell the when you walk in you're like wow there are definitely a lot of foreigners here so it depends on what you're looking for in a neighborhood but it is a really great one then you've also got another one of my favorite neighborhoods in Singapore which is bugus bugus is so great and I kind of feel like it's a little underrated relative to all the other common Foreigner Hot Spot areas so bugas is so close to the city there are so many bus lines and I love taking the bus in Singapore actually I would say I love taking the bus more than the underground subway system bugas has a handful of condos available there is duel there's Concourse which is really beautiful there's citygate I don't know why I know these buildings all so clearly but I've viewed a lot of apartments in this area so I love bugas it's great you've got hajian which is an outdoor very casual mural fill barsy area which I love going to the caveat with bugus I'd say is it's actually not the most quaint quiet spot and you're very much still in like major streets so if you want to be able to stroll around the park I don't think there's that many walking distance Parks you can go to so if you really want to have a more quaint peaceful neighborhood then you should probably skip this one then you can go towards the east and you've got kind of katong juat siglap area a lot of of my both local and Foreigner friends live in the East they tend to be people who are a little more settled they want some separation from work so they can go to work in the city but go back to the east the East is lovely you've got a lot of very nice Heritage areas you've got je CH and all the colorful Shop houses and boutiques there but you're also walking distance to the East Coast Park area which you've got kind of like a beach I don't know if you really want to call it a beach cuz it's not it's not like don't think like white sand beach but there is a beach um you can go cycling and there's like skate parks there it's honestly super lovely the majority of people I know that live in the East kind of stay in the East and they think the East is like the most amazing best place ever uh another good thing about the East is that one of my favorite locksa places 328 Locka is there but they also have other locations last neighborhood is santosa and if there is one word to summarize this neighborhood it is bie because it is essentially the island South of Singapore where there's a lot of beautiful beaches and there's a lot of boats and yach parked in santosa Cove area santosa essentially is comprised of a lot of landed houses that are really bgie uh Luxury Condominiums and hotels and it's lovely it's really great majority of the people that I know that live there tend to be families people who have kids and dogs essentially if you're just moving to Singapore for the first time I would highly recommend you to just check out the different neighborhoods and see what Vibes best with your lifestyle because aside from all these neighborhoods that I did mention there's actually quite a few more that are a little bit more north of Singapore even areas like bua which are very very common very family oriented a lot of the people that I know that live in bukima tend to live there because it's Clos to their kids schools so my tip is just check out the different neighborhoods and see which one Vibes best with your lifestyle we got to the most fun part of the video which is the actual viewing so I'm going to show you six units I viewed that are all within that sort of 3.5 to 4K price point and walk you through the things that I liked and didn't like about it first on the list is an htb unit this was $3,800 and it's a one better it's got an open lofty style concept with exposed concrete floors which I loved and it's got a lovely sized living room and dining table area the bedroom is small but it serves the purpose and then it's connected straight to this closet area I didn't really like how the sink was in the closet area which is a bit strange but the kind of bedroom bathroom area is quite Compact and then once you exit the bathroom you've got a storage area which is huge on the left which I Love Actually and then then you go back into the kitchen area and I love the fact that there's a big kitchen island the sad thing with this unit though is I went to go view it at maybe 400 p.m. in the afternoon and I waited a couple hours just thinking about whether or not I like it was it worth it cuz the bedroom's kind of small 3.8 is still pretty pricey so I was like you know what I'm just going to put an offer in so I messaged the agent and then he told me in the last couple hours since I viewed this place someone had put in an offer signed an Loi and put down the deposit for the unit and the landlord accepted already and I was just devastated because I actually really like this unit and I was already thinking about how I'd furnish it so I was really sad when I realized I lost this apartment and that's when I realized holy crap I really got to step up my game especially when it comes to renovated htbs because the space is great there's no way you're getting this kind of size for 3.8 for a one-bedroom and a condo then I viewed an apartment in a building called Eis residences which is slightly more towards the east this is one of those apartment buildings that are lower Rises there's not not that many units and it's quite small and the thing with these buildings is that they say they have a swimming pool but this is what their swimming pool looks like it's like a tiny dark at the back of the building afterthought of a swimming pool and I was like uh and a lot of the times with these smaller buildings their amenities are not going to win you over and at that point I honestly rather just pay that price point for a renovated HTP if I can find one but the thing with this apartment that I did like is that it's actually a kind of Loft pen Housey style so when you first walk in you got the kitchen which is small honestly if I could choose I would love to have four stove Toops cuz I like cooking but this is the kind of bedroom living room all in one area so I realized their one-bedroom is not actually a one-bedroom it's kind of still a studio and then it's connected to the bathroom which is actually quite decently sized and massive I just wish that there was an actual one-bedroom okay this is definitely a studio this apartment also has a rooftop area which is beautiful I can imagine putting fairy lights there having a dining table but the thing is there are no fans on the rooftop and it's going to get really really freaking hot and to be honest the practicality of me actually bringing my dinner up to the rooftop to eat even when I'm by myself and without friends it's just rare so I'm going to end up having to eat at my desk downstairs 5 in away from my bed so this was a no-o for me especially because it was $4,000 for this unit I was like that's just not worth it so while I was in East I viewed another unit that is a one bedroom for 3999 to 4K and this is a one-bedroom but to be honest I feel like it's kind of a lie it's actually just a studio so when you walk in you'll see that it is a really nicely built condo pretty standard and it kind of honestly reminds me of my last apartment in terms of the layout you've got a quote unquote study which is basically what looks like a closet for your brooms and a little dark area with no windows and they call it a study because you can put a desk there and work in there which obviously I'm not going to do but then you walk out the living room and bedroom are basically connected but you walk out on the balcony and you've got this amazing view of east coast and it's just lovely the meni in Seaside residences is beautiful it's such a new building pool is massive area is great but honestly I don't want to pay $4,000 for another studio apartment I just feel kind of ripped off doing that and at that point I might as well just stay in my last unit which is also kind of a studio layout so this one I wasn't too crazy about then I viewed another renovated HD unit these are honestly kind of like rare unicorns it's really difficult to find because they're off the market so quickly it's a one-bedroom unit in kind of Central West area in Clemente and it's going for 3,500 which is really great from that price point perspective this unit is beautifully renovated it's so lovely you've got a couch area you've got a small dining table and you've got kind of tinted windows to the bedroom area the kitchen is at the back you've got a lot of nice new appliances which I love and you've got a little bit of a storage area with a washer and a dryer at the back back which are separated the thing is there's only one window in this unit you can actually open and it's a tiny one so there's not a lot of natural light and the agent basically told me the landlord did this intentionally because she really wanted that kind of blackout cozy hotel room style so a lot of the windows were all just covered and made so that you can't actually open them and you can definitely tell what the priorities were with this landlord because this is a gorgeous gorgeous wardrobe area so much storage and it's honestly a girl's dream vanity area but the reality is that if I could choose wow I would love to have so much space for my clothes I rather have a little bit more living space so this was such a beautiful unit but I had to pass then I viewed a one-bedroom going for $3,800 in the bugus area which I love this neighborhood this is a lovely one-bedroom Loft style so you've got the main kitchen area and dining living area downstairs then when you go upstairs you've got the bedroom and you can see that it's got high ceilings and it's got exposed beams so you can actually really deck it out and make it look really nice and be able to host friends at your place but to be honest something about the building just felt a bit off I just got weird vibes from it I didn't take a video of this but the hallway leading to the units it's this Eerie scary looking hallway that goes what feels like forever and there's just like a million doors leading to it so something about it just gave me really weird Vibes so maybe that's just me but for 3,800 it's a beautiful space I mean you can see all of them are kind of around the same price point and the space you're getting here is massive and a great neighborhood the last unit I viewed is a Studio unit that's going for 3,600 honestly the price point was what kind of attracted me to it I am not a huge fan of going for Studios right now but I was like you know what it's a squarish layout so it looks awesome it's a great neighborhood it's in kind of River Valley bridging on Somerset area walking distance to a lot of great restaurants this building is a little bit older the kitchen and everything is a little bit dated but it's actually got really great space it's got gas stove top and the bathroom has a lot of counter space but I think just the fact that it's such an Open studio I think with my last apartment even though it's a studio I still had like some separation of the the entrance area you can't see everything in one go basically is what I'm trying to say with this unit because you can see everything I just don't know how I'm going to put my dining table with my bed and then have that bed right by the the balcony which is lovely and huge but I think it was just I I just really wanted to have a little bit more separation between work play eating so this one was a no-o for me so I viewed these six apartments and more and I viewed so many different neighborhoods and you'll see the reoccurring trend is it's either a condo that is older and as a result there basically are no amenities or it's a renovated htb unit which still don't have amenities but I go into it knowing that there aren't any and the space is a little bigger so I really really wanted to try to get a an older building but a little bit more space this time around I managed to end up finding the apartment that I moved to it's not this one I'm in London right now and I can't wait to share with you guys the updated apartment tour but to be honest it was a really stressful process essentially you want to always apartment hunt in the 1 and a half to two months before your move in date kind of time frame any earlier than that you can start browsing just to see what's on the market but the reality is that they will just want someone to move in earlier so if you're not ready there's no point if you do any later essentially it gets extremely stressful and the clock is ticking and you might not have a place to live so I lost a couple apartments because I wasn't fast enough so in the end to get my new apartment I actually had to put an offer on the spot when I meant to go visit the unit and I had to provide all the documents and sign everything right away so by that point I was honestly just so done with apartment hunting but I managed to find a home that I love and I can't wait to share with you guys what it looks like despite how stressful apartment hunting can be I'm sure you guys will be able to find the perfect home for you in Singapore if you got any questions about moving to Singapore leave a comment Down Below in the meantime I'll catch you guys on Instagram and Tik Tok where I post very frequently and I'll see you guys in my next video [Music] bye

Channel: sherrybyw

Views: 243,339

Keywords: abrushofbeauty, singapore, vlogger, expat, expat life, expat living, young expat, moving to singapore, singapore life, sherry, sherrybyw, startup, vc, venture capital

Id: aUvFzq2-qHk

Length: 24min 25sec (1465 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 21 2023