Has Singapore become more expensive to live in than other first world countries?

[isaac]

I've been musing about this issue for quite awhile.

Has Singapore become more expensive to live in than other first world countries?

Let me do a simple comparison of the 2 big ticket items, namely, Car and Property, for Singapore versus UK-excluding London.

for the motorcar, a Toyota Vios in Singapore costs S$89,000
A Toyota Yaris (a Vios equivalent) in the UK costs £11,495 (S$23,000)

Insurance is roughly the same.
Petrol is S$1.95 for RON 95 here, £1.25 (S$2.50) in the UK.

For Property, the average Singaporean stays in a 4 room which he bought for S$250,000 to S$350,000. In the UK, a 1,500 sq ft Semi D costs in the region of £150,000. (Manchester suburb)


someone over at hardwarezone forums, who is living in the UK, has done a detailed comparison of day-to-day living costs here
From what I've gleaned, it seems day to day stuff in the UK is actually also cheaper than Singapore! Not to mention one of the biggest costs, healthcare, is pay for by taxes in the UK.

Wages wise, I shall take a medical doctor as an example.

A houseman here earns S$3,800 per month, after bonus, is somewhere in the region of S$50,000+. This is subject to an income tax band of 7%. A houseman working in the NHS earns £30,000, not including bonuses. This is subject to income tax band of 20%.

A consultant in public service in Singapore earns in the region of S$150,000, subject to 15% income tax (effectively S$127,500) , whereas a consultant in the NHS earns £100,000, subject to 40% income tax. (Effectively £60,000- S$120,000).

Not to mention that the working hours are alot more in Singapore...


This is just a simple comparison; but could it be that Singapore's cost of living has caught up, or indeed exceeded other first world countries?

[karlmarx]

yes, cost of living in sg is high. very high. entering the league of big international cities. the question is what we can do about it. there are basically three ways to respond.

1. earn more.
2. spend (and expect) less.
3. change our country's policies responsible for high costs.

i guess most people are here for point 1. and everyone is probably already working hard at their careers. we are already a few months past point 3. and if citizens are unwilling to remove the incumbent when sentiments have never been worse, they probably never will. saf is already giving out ipads to win over the youths - the demograph that voted against them the most. it is often said that point 2 is most straight forward solution. but we all know that it isn't. in sg, everybody judges everybody by what they have, and how much of it. there's no escaping of this competitive comparison. except perhaps for the hermit.

at the end of the day, i believe most of us will resort to point 1. afterall, you can get alot more by just purchasing assets during a recession. how hard can it be to wait patiently for the next one? =)

[Musicwhiz]

Hi Isaac,

Shouldn't come as such a big surprise eh? After all, Singapore has the highest concentration of millionaires in the world! The prices must keep pace with their burgeoning wealth, right?

[yeokiwi]

Car is normally not an essential item in cities. It will be probably more accurate to use cost of public transport.
Property wise, it does not seem right to use Manchester suburb(a pretty dull neighborhood and very far away from London...) to compare with our suburb. Using London suburb will be more accurate.

Lastly, food wise, hawker centers, coffee shops and most food court in Singapore offer the cheapest food in first world cities.
For a family with no desire to own a car and having their own residential property, Singapore is not that expensive to live in.

For medical treatments, most treatments and hospitalization costs are affordable(Class C ward!!!) but for some particular sickness and diseases, it may be a financial bomb to the patient.

The living condition in Singapore is fantastic. I mean.. I definitely will not want to live in Manchester suburbs.....

[Thriftville]

Hey Isaac, you may want to include items such as services like dining in restaurants / hawker centers, cost of hiring maid, etc. So that the calculation of living cost can be more accurate.

From the international survey, it seems that Singapore has one of the highest purchasing power parity (Top 5) in the world. The figures may not be a true reflection of the truth, as it could be distorted due to income gap. List of countries by PPP per capita

[corydorus]

Living Standard is all about Luxury therefore ability to own a Car (affordable) goes a long way to argue against it.
If we need to do away this and that before we compare, i feel is a distortion of Facts.(or abuse of Data)

We are not there yet till owning a Car is affordable. And becomes a Choice.


Cory
Not Vested

[Ben]

I have no doubt that Spore is getting a lot more expensive, especially in the last few years. I travel to Seoul frequently for work and I can't help but noticed that Spore cost has increased at a much rapid pace as compared to Seoul. Five years ago when I first visited Seoul, everything looks expensive to me. A simple meal in food courts will easily cost KWR7,000, which is about S$10 (using that time FX rate of KWR 650 to SGD 1). Five years ago you could buy a decent meal in Spore food court for about $3 to $4. Now, the price in Seoul is about KWR9,000, which works out to about $10 using current rate of KWR 860 to SGD 1. So the price has remain stable over the last five years in SGD equivalent. While it can be argued that $10 per set of meal in Seoul is still higher than the one we get here, which is about $7 for Korean meal, the quantity & quality is so much better in Seoul as compared to Spore.

Since I am allow to claim for meals, I usually had my dinners in a mid-class restaurant. A meal of BBQ + noodles + beer (korean brand) + shoju + bean paste soup + fried pancake = KWR40,000 (avg per person for a group of 5). Convert to SGD is about SGD46. I don't think we can get the same variety and quantity of food for this kind of price here.

But there is one good news though; Sporean can now visit Seoul without having instant noodles for meal.

[yeokiwi]

I have no doubt that Spore is getting a lot more expensive, especially in the last few years. I travel to Seoul frequently for work and I can't help but noticed that Spore cost has increased at a much rapid pace as compared to Seoul. Five years ago when I first visited Seoul, everything looks expensive to me. A simple meal in food courts will easily cost KWR7,000, which is about S$10 (using that time FX rate of KWR 650 to SGD 1). Five years ago you could buy a decent meal in Spore food court for about $3 to $4. Now, the price in Seoul is about KWR9,000, which works out to about $10 using current rate of KWR 860 to SGD 1. So the price has remain stable over the last five years in SGD equivalent. While it can be argued that $10 per set of meal in Seoul is still higher than the one we get here, which is about $7 for Korean meal, the quantity & quality is so much better in Seoul as compared to Spore.

Since I am allow to claim for meals, I usually had my dinners in a mid-class restaurant. A meal of BBQ + noodles + beer (korean brand) + shoju + bean paste soup + fried pancake = KWR40,000 (avg per person for a group of 5). Convert to SGD is about SGD46. I don't think we can get the same variety and quantity of food for this kind of price here.

But there is one good news though; Sporean can now visit Seoul without having instant noodles for meal.

You can look it in another way. The S$ has been steadily appreciating and therefore, the cost of a meal has remained stable to you even though it has risen from 7000 won to 9000 won.
http://www.x-convert.com/chart/KRW-SGD?period=10y

I noticed that many jap and korean restaurants own the shops and lands. Therefore, they do not face constant rental increase by landlords.
Besides that, they rarely have those food court chains that delivers lousy kopi and similar food throughout singapore (Kopitiam, Koufu....)

I detest these food court or coffee shop chains. They destroy good foods in Singapore.

[brattzz]

the only way to maintain good food standards, is to be like the hong kongers, they own their own shops and land.
They keep the cost down and still maintain good food tastes!

[memphisb]

everything is expensive except for public transport and hawker food.

Clothes especially. I could find nice factory outlets overseas at bargin prices with good material quality.

Can you find one in singapore? IMM outlets? They are not exactly cheaper not alot.