# Moving to Singapore from New Zealand



## singkiwi

Hi Everyone,
I'm a first time poster also and interested on any information that can help me make the decision to move to Singapore. I am actually a Singaporean Citizen, my parents emigrated to New Zealand when I was a teenager. I'm now married and my husband (a NZ CItizen) and I are thinking about moving to SIngapore to make some $$ and enjoy life somewhere warm! 

I am looking at a couple of places to live and would like advice on prices, areas, and any general observations from people who like us are 30 something professionals who enjoy being social but aren't extravagant - my budget would be max $3000 for a 2 bedroom - is this realistic and where should I be looking?

I work in the recruitment industry and would be looking at a salary of approx $5 - $7K per month plus bonuses - what kind of standard of living would I expect with this kind of salary?

My husband is a MAC operator/account manager in the print industry - does anyone have any useful links on where he should be looking to work and expected salary ranges? - if he is a NZ citizen married to a Singaporean is he automatically entitled to work?

One of our long term plans is to invest in property in Singapore taking advantage of a first home buyers grant that we heard was available to citizens, does anyone have any information about the process of applying for this type of grant, what kinds of property it encompasses and what the restrictions are if we were to buy it for the purposes of investment only?

Any insights, help or thoughts would be much appreciated - thank you in advance!!


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## simonsays

Hi,

A warm Welcome to the forum .. 

I have dropped some quick words, about your questions .. 



> I am looking at a couple of places to live and would like advice on prices, areas, and any general observations from people who like us are 30 something professionals who enjoy being social but aren't extravagant - my budget would be max $3000 for a 2 bedroom - is this realistic and where should I be looking?


That kind of budget would get you good 2 bedroom apartments, in condo type residences, and 3 or 4 bedroom apartments if you are looking at staying in housing board apartments.



> I work in the recruitment industry and would be looking at a salary of approx $5 - $7K per month plus bonuses - what kind of standard of living would I expect with this kind of salary?


Off-hand, it is subjective. As I mentioned in another thread, you can live within 5K in Singapore, or pay 10K and above just for rental .. There is a cost of living calculator somewhere in this forum, and it could help you to understand life here.



> My husband is a MAC operator/account manager in the print industry - does anyone have any useful links on where he should be looking to work and expected salary ranges? - if he is a NZ citizen married to a Singaporean is he automatically entitled to work?


Getting married to a Singaporean does not entitle him to automatically be eligible to work. He will need to get his Dependant pass or PR here, or apply for an employment pass, before being able to legally work. Check the ICA website @ ICA - HomeImmigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore and MOM site @ default.aspx



> One of our long term plans is to invest in property in Singapore taking advantage of a first home buyers grant that we heard was available to citizens, does anyone have any information about the process of applying for this type of grant, what kinds of property it encompasses and what the restrictions are if we were to buy it for the purposes of investment only?


Housing board apartments, which are subsidised, are available to first time home owners, where both are Singaporeans, and there are a few requirements. Check HDB InfoWEB : Homepage - and you should have sufficient money in the provident fund (CPF www.cpf.gov.sg) to be used as part collateral, though you can top up and add on to that.

As for your thinking of buying the apartment as an investment, that is what the government does not want people to do, and they have tightened up speculators for the HDB houses, and in turn enforce strict re-sale rules, including disqualfication from buying "ANY" HDB houses in the future, if the buyer has been buying and selling HDB houses. HDB Is subsidised, with low interest loan, and the government has seen people taking advantage of the low interest loans to trade in subsidised property, and more changes are on the way to control such speculation, and such speculation has been driving the dream of owning an apartment away and away for the common man. It is a fair deal as to what the government is doing. 

The government does not bother what you do with private apartments / condos, and there are a lot of such apartments here.

Overall, the Singapore Government has been doing a great job, in controlling the interests of citizens, and recently they started doing major distinguishing differences between Citizens and Permanent residents, to reduce the PRs abusing the previleges afforded to Singaporeans (such as housing loan, lower medical costs, lower schooling fee etc.) and citizens are entitled to skills programs with upto 90% discount in some cases. 

Singapore in return offers a stable country, peace, and virtually crime free society, excellent transportation, and is a great place to live. In the negative side - there is nothing much, other than to quote the common whine of Expats, that of late the government has been taking steps to offer more previleges to Citizens, compared to the expats - but hey, why shouldn't any country take care of their citizens first ? 

I would have seem to have quoted a few websites, but the government websites here are quite informative, and a quick glance can provide you with all the info you need. And any government agency has decent information services. Even visiting a police station is like visiting a Lawyers office. The police will offer you a private room for discussion, and will be treating your case like any lawyer would, offering legal advice and recourse, instead of being treated like a common criminal as in many countries.

Cheers

PS: above is my own view of Singapore


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## D^Quixote

Hi Singkiwi,

Since I'm doing real estate right now, let me just add a bit more to ecureilx’s response with regard to the housing situation here.

At this point of time, you can still find a few 2-bedroom condominiums on the outskirts of town for $3,000. Of course, prices are prices are expected to increase this year especially for private property.

You might also want to note because the real estate sector here has been performing so well lately, it is under a lot of scrutiny and there have been many changes in the last few months. In fact, several moves were made just last Friday (5/03/2010) to ‘temper the exuberance’, as they like to call it. This is on top of those announced last month which were geared more towards private properties.

The minimum occupation period (MOP) for a resale (bought in open market) HDB flat is now 3 years, regardless of the type of loan you take (HDB, bank or no loan). This means that you have to stay in the flat for at least 3 years before you can sell it. Essentially, the government is trying to get the message across that HDB flats are for occupation, not for investment.

Even though there is no capital gains tax at the moment, if you were to purchase your next HDB flat immediately after selling your previous one, you have to use 50% of your cash profits from the sale of your previous flat to pay for your new one. This means that half your cash will always be locked up (as long as you still want to stay in a HDB flat anyway). A bit different if you were to buy a flat first before selling off.

The MOP before you can rent out your whole property is still 3 years.

They've announced a few policies that will affect PRs. For PRs married to a Singapore citizen, HDB is going to withhold $10,000 of such couples’ housing subsidies when purchasing a resale flat in an attempt to encourage PRs to take up citizenship. Alternatively, you’ll have to pay a $10,000 premium when buying a new HDB flat. The money will be returned once the PR takes up citizenship or the couple produces a Singaporean child.

A new ‘ethnic integration policy’ has also been imposed (yes, such things are institutionalized in Singapore) for PRs to prevent enclaves from emerging. If you’re unfamiliar with the Ethnic Integration Policy, it places a quota for homes for different ethnic groups in a block or neighbourhood. For PRs, it’ll be 5% at neighbourhood level, 8% at block. So that would make it a bit harder for you to find something suitable. Let's also not forget that the COVs are at a record high right now. This morning, I saw one of those flyers in my lift put up by some agent who was offering 50K COV for a unit in my block. 50k!!

Fyi, property tax is also 10% of the annual value for non-owner occupied properties (compared to 4% for owner-occupied properties).

Also, even more measures are expected to be announced soon so you might want to keep track of that. The word on the ground is that it might provide for stricter rules for the subletting of whole flats (such as it were before 2003) among other things. Hopefully, it won’t be as drastic as those measures introduced in the late 90s.

If you’re still interested though, you might want to take a look at the Bukit Panjang area for the mid-term (5 years) or the Lakeside area for the longer term (>10 years) 

Let me know if you have any more questions and I'll try to help you out


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