Yiran and I rent an HDB flat. HDB stands for “Housing Development Board”, it is a government body that takes care of housing. Every Singaporean family has the right to buy a flat at subsidised rates, and the provision on these flats is in the hands of the Housing Development Board.
HDB flats are built efficiently and at low cost. Entire walls are pre-manufactured and puzzled together on the building site. New flats are as high as 40 stories. HDB flats are supposed to give everyone a decent roof above their head. Because of the subsidised rates, a large majority (I believe it was 90%) of Singaporeans owns their own flat. If you’d like some idea of how an HDB flat looks like, check the photos I posted here.
Foreigners cannot buy an HDB flat and they resort to private property: mostly condominiums; estates of several flats behind walls and with guards (no idea why that would be necessary in such a safe country). They usually come with gyms, swimming pools, tennis tracks etc. As they are not subsidised, private property can cost several times as much to buy as an HDB apartment. No wonder that 80% of Singaporeans live in an HDB flat. Living in a condominium or other private property is a status symbol. And it is definitely something for expats, who usually haven’t even seen an HDB from the inside.
Yiran and I rent an HDB flat from a Singaporean who owns it but prefers to live in a condo himself – which is a good deal. Gives us a lot of space for our bucks, and behind our house is a condominium with a nice swimming pool anyway, so if we want to swim, we just “pay a visit” to that place.
Me living in an HDB flat leads to puzzled faces sometimes. White people, after all, are supposed to be the expats on a fat package, and they should have the money to rent a condo. I enjoy the confusion in people’s eyes when I open our post box – which implies, after all, that I live in the flat and am not just a visitor.
One time, I entered the lift in our flat building – going up to our apartment. A Singaporean lady was already there. The conversation went as follows:
Lady: “which floor?”
Me: “10th floor, please”
…she pushes the button…silence…
Lady: “you live here?”
Me: “yes”
…puzzled face…silence…
Lady: “You rent whole apartment, is it?”
Me: “Yes I do”
…she leaves lift at 8th floor
The “whole apartment thing” derives from the fact that it is quite common for e.g. foreign students to rent a room in an HDB flat. This can be living with the owner or sharing the rent with a few people. Quite like Dutch student houses, actually. Since I am white, of course I should have money, so she probably thinks now that I rent a whole flat for myself.
HDB flats are built efficiently and at low cost. Entire walls are pre-manufactured and puzzled together on the building site. New flats are as high as 40 stories. HDB flats are supposed to give everyone a decent roof above their head. Because of the subsidised rates, a large majority (I believe it was 90%) of Singaporeans owns their own flat. If you’d like some idea of how an HDB flat looks like, check the photos I posted here.
Foreigners cannot buy an HDB flat and they resort to private property: mostly condominiums; estates of several flats behind walls and with guards (no idea why that would be necessary in such a safe country). They usually come with gyms, swimming pools, tennis tracks etc. As they are not subsidised, private property can cost several times as much to buy as an HDB apartment. No wonder that 80% of Singaporeans live in an HDB flat. Living in a condominium or other private property is a status symbol. And it is definitely something for expats, who usually haven’t even seen an HDB from the inside.
Yiran and I rent an HDB flat from a Singaporean who owns it but prefers to live in a condo himself – which is a good deal. Gives us a lot of space for our bucks, and behind our house is a condominium with a nice swimming pool anyway, so if we want to swim, we just “pay a visit” to that place.
Me living in an HDB flat leads to puzzled faces sometimes. White people, after all, are supposed to be the expats on a fat package, and they should have the money to rent a condo. I enjoy the confusion in people’s eyes when I open our post box – which implies, after all, that I live in the flat and am not just a visitor.
One time, I entered the lift in our flat building – going up to our apartment. A Singaporean lady was already there. The conversation went as follows:
Lady: “which floor?”
Me: “10th floor, please”
…she pushes the button…silence…
Lady: “you live here?”
Me: “yes”
…puzzled face…silence…
Lady: “You rent whole apartment, is it?”
Me: “Yes I do”
…she leaves lift at 8th floor
The “whole apartment thing” derives from the fact that it is quite common for e.g. foreign students to rent a room in an HDB flat. This can be living with the owner or sharing the rent with a few people. Quite like Dutch student houses, actually. Since I am white, of course I should have money, so she probably thinks now that I rent a whole flat for myself.