Expats in Singapore make plans to leave amid skyrocketing rents, competition for talent

Last year, rents for private housing in Singapore shot up at their fastest rate in 15 years. One expat warned that ‘anyone who can leave is leaving’

Some employees are opting to live in cheaper cities nearby and work remotely, as competition from other hubs like Hong Kong and Dubai increases

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Pedestrians walk through Singapore’s central business district. Singapore now ranks as the world’s most expensive city, alongside New York. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 10:18am, 27 Mar 2023Updated: 10:20am, 27 Mar 2023

Though he and his family “love living in Singapore” and have been doing so for the last seven years, French expat Paul will be moving his whole family back to France come June as his landlord intends to raise the rent by 70 per cent.

“The rent increase is S$4,000 (US$3,000) per month. That’s money that we cannot save, use for holidays, or set aside for retirement preparation,” said Paul, who is in his late 40s and holds a director-level job in fintech, but declined to give his full name.

The impact of rising rents on Singapore’s expat community gained attention recently when a TikTok video by a British woman about the topic made headlines.

The woman who goes by the handle @salshoult had sarcastically described how her “generous” landlord intended to raise the rent by 75 per cent and called it an “excellent deal”, as he would otherwise put the property on the market at a 100 per cent mark-up.

This comes as rents for private housing last year shot up at the fastest rate in 15 years, outpacing some cities.

“While rents rose by around 18 per cent in the year to September 2022 in Singapore, they fell in Hong Kong and Shanghai, were flat in Kuala Lumpur while Beijing saw modest rises,” said Steven Kilfedder, head of production at ECA International, a data, software and consultancy firm.