A Comparison of New York City vs Singapore Apartments

Last Updated on April 7, 2024 by Adam Watts

We just moved into our new condo apartment in Singapore. Now we’re in comparable spaces, let’s look at New York City vs Singapore apartments. Hint: we upgraded in almost every way.

First, let me explain what we’re comparing. In Singapore, we’re in a one-bedroom on the 5th floor of a condo in the Bukit Timah neighborhood of this mighty little island in Southeast Asia. In New York City, we had a one-bedroom in Astoria, Queens, a mighty fine little neighborhood in its own right.

In both places, I’m talking about rentals we’re not planning in staying in for decades to come, so we’re not drilling a million holes to install all our furniture to walls.

Now let’s go category by category to look at New York City vs Singapore apartments.

Price

Let’s get this big question out of the way early. We paid $2000 USD a month for our one-bedroom apartment in New York City. In Singapore we’re paying $2300 SGD, which is a bit less when converted than what we were paying in the US. For that price, in both places you get a little under 600 square feet.

Moving from almost anywhere to either of these cities would be a shock in terms of price, but since we’re swapping one of the most expensive cities in the world for another, it was actually a pleasant surprise that price was actually in our favour moving to Singapore. Well, let’s judge by looking at the other categories…

Landlord Experience

There are plenty of horror stories about New York City landlords but in our Astoria apartment, when we needed something fixed, it got fixed. We moved once into the building and then moved into a different unit in the same building and in both cases, the apartments were well-cleaned before we moved in and the walls were re-painted. We also communicated directly with the landlord around lease issues.

In Singapore the experience has been quite different.

One apartment, ideal apart from the not insignificant issue of an area of mold on the ceiling and wall the size of the Great Barrier Reef, we had to turn down after the landlord said they would “prefer a tenant who doesn’t want me to put any effort at all into maintaining my property” (I’m paraphrasing). And we heard from our real estate agent that not only was that apartment rented by someone who didn’t care about the mold, they paid several hundred dollars above the asking price. What the hecking heck.

It seems common in Singapore to never deal directly with landlords; we talk to our real estate agent who talks to the property owner’s agent who talks to his neighbor’s dog’s cousin and eventually somehow the landlord gets the message. It’s much less personal and more bureaucratic than New York but so far it’s been smooth.

When we actually moved in, our agent walked through the apartment and documented in great detail all of the imperfections about the apartment – chipped skirting boards, marks on walls, etc. – so we’re not liable when we move out. But there was never a question of repainting at the landlord’s expense or any touch-ups beyond fixing a broken stove light and replacing a bulb [which to date has still not been fixed…].

Inside the Apartment

Now let’s compare the inside of a New York City vs Singapore apartment. We already established square footage is basically the same, but there are some other differences.

In New York, we had three big closets and a linen closet, which was frankly more than we needed. We ended up with one closet full of random boxes, suitcases, and all those miscellaneous items that “we’ll find a permanent home for later” and ended up staying there for a year or more. In Singapore we have a walk-in closet which is a fair size and helps keep everything organized, but there isn’t too much other built-in storage space.

Singapore wins on the bathroom front, with a walk-in, overhead shower and a nice aesthetic. New York was functional and nothing to write home about.

The kitchen in Singapore is a major downgrade overall, with old appliances, a small fridge, and little surface space. We’ve already bought a mobile kitchen island as an additional surface, which helps. And in the land of cheap food at hawker centers, we’ll be doing much less cooking than in New York anyway.

Singapore also has a washing machine and dryer in-unit which is unheard of in New York. Lugging a bag full of laundry down the block to a crowded laundromat has been replaced by the VROOOOOOOOOMING insane spin cycles that make it seem like the world is coming to an end. I suppose this is better.

Amenities

In many ways amenities is an unfair category for a comparison of New York City vs Singapore apartments, since “amenities” in NYC apartment buildings for normal folk might amount to a grotty washer-dryer in the grottier basement, or a doorman if you’re really lucky. Or more likely an “amenity” might amount to a promise that “we’ll try our best to make sure pest control checks in on you once every six months, even though we know you’ll probably be gnawed to death by rats by then.”

Now let’s look at Singapore, and I mean that literally. Look at this:

Yes, that pool is ours. We can wake up and go for an early morning swim, or a game of tennis, or gym session (that raised box in the center background is the gym), without leaving the property. This life just doesn’t exist in New York for a regular person. You pay $200+ a month for the pleasure of going out of your way after work to get to an overcrowded gym. And swimming? Unlikely. We lived close to Astoria Park, with the biggest outdoor pool in the city, and never used it because combining “New York public” and “swimming pool” in one sentence makes me want to vomit.

It’s been less than a month living here so maybe the novelty will wear off, but right now it feels like living in a hotel, and a nice hotel at that, one that reminds me of relaxing vacations in the sun on some Spanish island somewhere, not the shoe-box sized hotel rooms of New York City.

As part of this condo, we also have an app that serves as a community for all residents of the condo. Management can post announcements, residents can reserve the tennis court and other places, residents can buy and sell stuff. And you can also be alerted when someone “noticed a huge bee or hornet flying around our home”. Yikes.

The View

We were lucky in New York, we had our own outdoor space in the form of a huge balcony. Admittedly we didn’t use it that much, but when said balcony is only floor up above a car park, it doesn’t exactly shriek of the good life. But still, it was better than a metal chair crammed into a fire escape that others in the city enjoy on a warm spring day.

In Singapore we’re on the 5th floor, not hugely high, but by far the highest floor I’ve ever lived. Here too we have a balcony, albeit much smaller and 80% of it is eternally taken up by a rack of drying laundry.

The view is a world of difference though, and not necessarily better, but certainly not worse. We swapped the patch of tarmac that served as a car park in New York for a view of the neighboring condo in Singapore, including their not-quite-as-nice-as-ours-hahaha-losers swimming pool. It adds to the hotel/vacation vibe.

The people-watching here is fun, from a dozen-strong crack team of painters dotting the outside of the entire condo, to sharing in the enjoyment of a K-drama with the residents of a specific unit across the way because their TV is angled just right. But it goes both ways, we also have to make sure we’re presentable whenever we have our curtains open.

Final Comparison of New York City vs Singapore Apartments

So there you have it, friends. That’s the comparison of our New York City vs Singapore apartments. For the same price we’re getting the same size space and we’ve added a swimming pool, gym, tennis courts, washer/dryer in-unit and some prime people-watching opportunity. Life is gooooooooood.

Bye for now!

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