> even if you're on $150k you can't really afford to live on your own (even an apartment is a stretch) as housing and living expenses are so high
That's pretty standard outside the USA too.
That's pretty standard outside the USA too.
(And it's not true in the US, only some coastal regions.)
Singles in their 20's do not qualify for govt subsidised housing (HDB). Rents here in Singapore range for 3k + for a basic apartment, 4k for a basic Condo apartment. Salary averages are about 6 - 9k (gross) for developers in that experience / age range
Apartments are govt provided public housing with a 99 year lease. Most of the population live in these. Only citizens and PR holders are allowed to purchase one per household.
Condos are gated compounds built by private developers, some have a 99 year lease too. These are for the rich. You can own as many as you like.
You may only own one or the other.
80% of housing is government subsidized ownership for citizen couples (or singles after 35). It’s brutal but philosophically aligned with the ‘good for the country’ - not enough space for people to be single.
BTO flats are very heavily subsidized and monthly payment will be in the hundreds for people matching the expectations.
I'm told Greece has some interesting housing typologies (polikatoikia):
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-07-15/the-desig...
The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than Most European Nations: https://fee.org/articles/the-poorest-20-of-americans-are-richer-than-most-nations-of-europe/If you stick to that societal expectation, the country is very affordable as the government will subsidize you a lot.
If you do not or can not, you will pay for it.
On one hand it’s brutal efficient and in many ways necessary (there just ain’t that much space for people to be single) and it’s reflected in immigration policy as well - trying to get PR/green card as a single is very very hard because that’s the only way for the government to seriously affect demographic curve without forcing people to have children.
Tokyo is 619km² with a population of almost 10m [0]. And that's not accounting yet for the surrounding population that commutes into Tokyo. During the last census in 2020, Tokyo's daytime population surges to 16m. [1]
The difference between these two cities is that a large portion of Japanese real estate are micro 1~2 bedroom apartments (below 20m²) built specifically for singles and young adults. The SG govt has for years claimed that it doesn't have enough space, in reality they're just want to encourage multi-generational living.
0: https://ieagent.jp/blog/eria/tokyo23population-601355#:~:tex... 1: https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGKKZO62846080T20C22A7EA4000/...