Yes, this is a real price if you buy a Proton Preve 1.6 CFE today in Singapore. The car price itself is already RM327,600. Then, plus COE and it comes to a total of RM509,605. This is one of the reasons why Singapore was recently ranked the MOST expensive city in the world. If you think this ranking is only vs South East Asian countries, think again. Singapore beat 131 and all the following cities which you can never imagine: Tokyo, Paris, Oslo and even Zurich of Switzerland. This is a report by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Some of the reasons stated were, cost of owning a car, transport costs which are 3 times higher than New York, expensive malls and boutiques on Orchard Road. In fact the city is now the costliest place in the world to buy clothes. However, let me be honest, when Singapore Sale is on, it is definitely possible to buy a good long sleeve shirt for even less than RM25! The reason is the same as Hong Kong, storage space is too high and thus everything must be sold in order for new stocks to come in. Unless you want to see the exact same piece of shirt year after year.
A recent BBC report also stated that the income inequality is rising as well and it currently the second biggest amongst Asia’s advanced economies. An example given was that 10 years ago, a bottle of table wine would cost US$13.25 but today, prices are already at US$25.65. When it comes to housing, even with the government subsidies, many Singaporeans are still unable to afford their own homes. Nevertheless, if we really see the actual growth, it has been steady and this the reason for this ranking was due to the continuous currency appreciation as well as solid price inflation over the past decade.
To those who think, hey Singapore is only ranked high because of the price of Proton Preve; prices of cars, think again. It is overall. FYI, even if you are a manager in Tokyo, you cannot even afford any piece of property there. This is true even for Hong Kong despite the fact that their pay is so many times higher and the prices of their cars way lower compared to the salary they are commanding. My ex Japanese GM said everyone in Japan changes their car when it reaches 50,000km and my ex client said he changes cars every few years. He drove me around in his Mercedes coupe the last time I visited him. Thus, for these places, property prices is the killer but for Singapore, on an overall basis, it has just become the most expensive city in the world.
Let’s see if any city overtakes it next year yeah. In the mean time, forget about buying a car there. Take the MRT. It’s so convenient. 🙂
written on 10 May 2014
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