SINGAPORE – On Feb 1, Ms T. Lai will join tens of thousands of Malaysians crossing the Causeway to Singapore daily for work.
The 49-year-old Malaysian, who works as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant in Woodlands, said her current lease for a flat in Singapore will expire at the end of January, and she has decided to move to Johor Bahru as she cannot afford the high rents here.
Rents of Housing Board flats have been hitting record highs recently.
A common room, or a bedroom without an attached toilet, in an HDB flat in Woodlands has gone up to between $800 and $1,000 a month, according to most listings on online property portals.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, a common room in Woodlands cost $600 to $700 to rent, said property agents The Sunday Times spoke to.
Woodlands town is popular with Malaysians as it is close to the border and rent is generally lower than in other residential estates.
Ms Lai, who has been working in Singapore for five years, is currently sharing a one-room HDB flat with another Malaysian. Each of them pays a monthly rent of $600.
Feeling the financial pressure of living in Singapore, her flatmate decided to pack up and move to Johor as it is more affordable there, Ms Lai said.
“I cannot afford to pay the $1,200 rent by myself after my flatmate leaves. I was also not sure if the landlord would increase the rent when the lease expires at the end of this month. So I tried to look for another place. But I could not find anything within my budget of $600,” said Ms Lai, who earns $3,200 a month. The last place she viewed was a common room in Jurong West, which has a partition to accommodate two tenants.
“The landlord was asking for a monthly rent of $900 from each tenant. That was when I decided I should also move to Johor.
“Many of my friends have already moved there, and they commute daily to Singapore for work,” added Ms Lai, who has managed to rent a fully furnished studio apartment at R&F Princess Cove for just RM1,950 (S$600), at least 30 per cent cheaper than a rental room in Woodlands.
The luxurious serviced residence is connected to the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex in Johor by a sheltered linkway, and it would take her less than an hour to get to work from her new home, said Ms Lai.
Property analysts noted that the financial strains are evident among Malaysians who have chosen to leave Singapore and live in Johor.
Before the pandemic, around 300,000 people used the Causeway every day, including about 100,000 Malaysians who commuted daily to Singapore to work before returning home at night. They work in a wide variety of jobs, such as chefs, hairdressers, security officers and construction supervisors, as well as professional posts.
Amid rising HDB rents, flash estimates from SRX and 99.co released in December showed a fall in the number of HDB rental transactions in November, which was also 10.9 per cent lower than the five-year average volume for the month of November.
The drop in HDB rental transactions could be due to more Malaysians not renewing their leases and opting to commute daily across the Causeway, said Huttons chief executive Mark Yip.
HDB rental prices rose 1.6 per cent from October to November 2022, and 27.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
All room types recorded year-on-year rent increases, with three-room flats recording a 26.3 per cent rise in rent, four-room flats 27.1 per cent, five-room flats 29.6 per cent and executive flats 31.4 per cent.
Mr Alloyious Koh, managing director of Plus Interior Studio, an interior design firm, said: “Following the partial opening of the border in August 2020, many of the Malaysian workers I worked with had to rent HDB flats here in order to continue their work in Singapore.
“But after the border fully reopened in April (2022), all of them moved to Johor as they found that rent here is too high. Some of them even terminated their leases prematurely and did not mind having their deposits forfeited.
“They told me that the rent for a whole apartment in Johor costs less than that for an HDB room, and they live more comfortably there.”
He added: “They don’t mind waking up earlier to travel to Singapore at about 5am, and they would head back to Johor at around 4pm to avoid the peak-hour traffic congestion.”
Malaysian Gavin Chan, who works as a painter in Singapore, said: “The difference in the cost of living between Singapore and Malaysia is quite significant. It is not just rental. Food is also expensive in Singapore. I can save more than $300, which is at least RM1,000, by living in Johor.”
Mr Chan left Singapore and moved to Johor in November 2022 after his lease expired. His then landlord had wanted to increase rent by $200, he said.
Since the border between Singapore and Malaysia fully reopened in April 2022, rental demand in Johor Bahru has also risen in tandem as more Malaysians returned to live in their home country, noted market watchers.
Malaysian property agent Fion Choo said she had transacted more than 100 property rentals for Malaysians working in Singapore last year. The senior agent at Union Properties recalled that the flood of inquiries came in July and August.
“It is not just Malaysians who have decided to move to Johor. I have three clients who are Singaporeans working in Singapore,” she said. “R&F Princess Cove is very popular among those who work in Singapore because it is only a 10-minute walk to the CIQ Complex.
“During the pandemic, it cost RM1,200 to rent a studio apartment there. Today, it is about RM2,000.
“Although rents have been increasing gradually since the border reopened, I don’t think they will surpass the sky-high rents in Singapore,” added Ms Choo.
“Source:[Record-high HDB rents driving Malaysians working in S’pore to live in JB] © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Permission required for reproduction”
