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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Restaurants - hawker centres are still fairly cheap, you can get a good meal for around $2-4, but portions aren't big. Fresh fruit juices and other drinks are as cheap as $1. Fast food is similar to US prices, as with high end restaurants. Alcoholic beverages can be expensive.
Shopping - Fresh fruit/groceries more expensive than Australia since everything is imported. Manufactured/packaged goods around average.
Transportation - Public transport - MRT/bus is reasonable. Owning a car is generally not worth the expense.
Healthcare - I think it's pretty expensive.
Entertainment - Pretty similar to prices in Australia.
Higher end consumer goods are generally similar to here in Australia. Electronic goods.etc aren't really cheaper.
Overall cost of living is probably similar to the US, cheaper than Australia and Canada I think, but expensive compared to Malaysia.
I visited Singapore the same year as Hong Kong, Taiwan and USA and I felt that it is the most expensive among the four. Hong Kong still is the most expensive when it comes to housing/hotels, but Hong Kong is among the best places for shopping. Singapore is probably the most expensive place in the world to own a car. Food is not "ridiculously" expensive, but still more expensive than Hong Kong or Taipei. We ate Din Tai Fung in Singapore and the bill came out much higher compared to nicer restaurants in Hong Kong or Taipei. The cost may be because the Singaporean dollar has appreciated more compared to other world currencies (except maybe the Australian dollar) in recent years.
MRT sucks. WAY too expensive. I paid roughly 10 S$ per day. Ridiculous. You got to pay for each single trip. (Yes, there are day passes for tourists, I think.)
Everything else is just the same as in other developed countries, imo. Not much, if at all, cheaper. Or even more expensive.
I remember when I went to Singapore, I was hoping to go crazy with shopping but alas, no. Most shops were ridiculously expensive.. on the same level with Australia, maybe a little more so; and Australia is quite expensive.
I remember when I went to Singapore, I was hoping to go crazy with shopping but alas, no. Most shops were ridiculously expensive.. on the same level with Australia, maybe a little more so; and Australia is quite expensive.
A lot of Singaporeans evade the high costs by shopping in Johor Bahru next door in Malaysia.
i think Singapore rank 3rd on average household income per year, so things will probably be more expensive over there since they have more money to burn.
this article said Singapore is the richest country in the world. it also said
“Despite being rich, common issues still linger on,” he says, adding, “flats are expensive, cars are expensive and education is expensive (for the average citizen).”
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,047,835 times
Reputation: 11862
Quote:
Originally Posted by spotlesseden
i think Singapore rank 3rd on average household income per year, so things will probably be more expensive over there since they have more money to burn.
this article said Singapore is the richest country in the world. it also said
“Despite being rich, common issues still linger on,” he says, adding, “flats are expensive, cars are expensive and education is expensive (for the average citizen).”
The advantage is most Singaporeans don't have a car and don't need one. I think having a car in S'pore is mostly to show off your wealth, can't imagine any practical use for it unless it's for some business or something.
Hawker centre food in Singapore is considerably cheaper than any meal you'd get in the West that is similarly tasty. Fresh food is more expensive however and taste more 'preserved' for example fresh milk tastes very different (worse imo) to what it does here even though I think most of their dairy products are imported from Australia.
Public transport fares are set to make a profit though are comparable to what you find in Western countries, fares are charged according to distance travelled. Taxi's are much cheaper over there as well. But as others have said private vehicles are prohibitively expensive due to government taxes/road pricing and are something of a status symbol.
As for entertainment cinemas are cheaper than in Australia but are often full to capacity, and the snack bars are not exorbitantly priced. Places like karaoke boxes are also cheaper and a meal and drink are normally included in the price. Clubs/pubs and the cost of alcohol is quite high however.
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