The bubble is growing

Mr Brown has a fascinating article on the thread running on the Expat Singapore forum regarding the ridculous hikes in rental going on, and how many expats and companies are leaving Singapore.

Like most threads on Expat Singapore there are your highly salaried expat wankers who simply cannot live on less than SGD$20k per month, but in this case the thread is rather gentrified. The feeling is unanimous -- the rent increases are going to hurt everyone.

For instance, our landlord is increasing our rental from a modest ~$2k per month to a ridiculous $3k per month. This is made even sillier by the fact that the whole apartment complex is up for en-bloc sale, and is due to to be sold and torn down in a nebulous nine-to-twelve month timeframe.

So instead of guaranteeing himself rental of $24k for that timeframe, he is losing out. Jeremy and I are parting ways at the end of this month so the landlord is trying to now rent it out on a lease that will read something like "from now until the place gets torn down."

That's got to instill confidence in your leasee.

Other places have seen the rental increase from 40%-100%, so I guess our landlord is being kind.

Anyway, I'm offshore soon and will be looking for somewhere to live when I return. Since I pay rent for somewhere I don't actually live in for half a year, how much I pay is rather important. If the rental situation continues as it is then Singapore, as clean, friendly and convenient as it is will no longer become a tenable option. You know things are dicey when Sydney rentals look like a saving.

KL (gah!), Pattaya, Phuket, Sydney are all looking better by the day.

It'll be sad to leave. I just hope the bubble bursts in time.