We all face Choice Overload. In Singapore, house options have thousands of sizes and styles and prices – which one do you choose?
On top of the ~80,000 houses available, 1600+ renovators are available. There are hundreds of millions of possibilities.
How to decide sial.
I find it helpful to list your minimum requirements. Specifically, the things you need a house for.
If I lived alone, my house would be for:
- Reading/Drawing/Tablework
- Exercise
- Cooking/Baking
- Sleeping
For this bare-bones existence, I’d need a…
- Desk+Chair
- Empty space
- Oven
- Fridge
- Bed
- Wardrobe
- Washroom
And that would look like:
This box is about 12 square meters, or 130 square feet.
So now that I know I need 12sqm, browsing property sites is a little less scary. Looking at typical HDB sizes, even the humblest of flats is enough:
- 1 Room / Studio: 36 sqm / 388sqft
- 2 Room HDB: 45sqm / 484sqft
- 3 Room HDB: 65sqm / 700sqft
- 4 Room HDB: 95sqm / 1023sqft
- 5 Room HDB: 115sqm / 1238sqft
What about couples? The budget life is hardly glamorous, but nonetheless the mental exercise of defining your minimum requirements (perhaps with a woke spouse) makes navigating the ocean of buy/rent options a little easier.
Budgetbox v2 is about 16 square meters, or 177 square feet. Amazingly, a 1-room HDB is still larger.
Knowing the minimum size for a liveable room gives us mental building blocks to imagine greater needs – how much space do you need if you wanted:
- A child’s bedroom? (e.g. 16sqm + 12sqm = 24sqm) (< 1room HDB)
- A livingroom? (e.g. 16sqm + 8sqm = 24sqm) (< 1room HDB)
- Housing 3 children? (e.g. 16sqm + 12sqm + 12sqm + 12sqm = 52sqm) (≈ 2-3 room HDB)
- etc.
Adding the building blocks is a simple guideline. However, with multiple people, amenities like kitchens, desks and washrooms can be shared for further economy.
You can add literal blocks to get a picture of the minimum floor space needed:
Your mileage may vary – you might need a balcony, or decide you don’t need a big livingroom, or want some separate dining areas etc as a minimum. Nonetheless, here’s a summary of the experiments above for reference:
I personally would like some spoils in the house like a balcony, a garden, a rooftop view etc. But if I can’t find these spoils, at least I know what my minimum requirements are, and whether they’re met. I hope this experiment brings some comfort to your decisions too.
I’d love to hear your feedback! Do you think I:
- Missed any points out?
- Should do a clear explanation on any bits?
- Could go deeper in certain areas?
You can let me know your feedback in the comments, I’d love to hear suggestions to make these mental tools more useful.
Happy house hunting, cheers.
Helpful Information From a Singaporean 