The buoyant rental market has seen prices rise further in the past year. And some are certainly taking advantage of this trend, with one enterprising man listing a “spacious” common room in an HDB flat to rent for $600.
But it comes with a caveat – the prospective tenant will have to share a bunk bed with another roommate. Just like the good ol’ days of National Service.
According to a Carousell advertisement shared on Feb 3, the room is located at an HDB unit located along Pasir Ris Street 11.
The photo included showed the room crammed with a bunk bed and another single bed.
Other than sharing the space with two other roommates, the prospective tenant, who gets to sleep on the top bunk, will have five cats for company.
Air-conditioning is also included, but only between 6pm and 6am. Light cooking is also allowed in the flat.
“No couples [allowed],” Carousell user Dharyl said, turning away any prospective roommates who do not mind squeezing into a single top-bunk bed to stretch their dollar.
It wasn’t indicated in the advertisement whether Dharyl is the flat owner or a tenant trying to find a roommate.
AsiaOne has contacted Dharyl for more information.
‘The bottom of the barrel’
The bizarre listing was shared in a TikTok video on Thursday (Feb 16).
In a 31-second clip, Radhiculas, who posted that video, said: “The current state of the housing market is crazy.
“There is such a premium price on freedom here in Singapore. Housing crisis.”
In the comments, several netizens lamented how “it’s the reality today”.
“We are really scraping the bottom of the barrel here,” one of them said.
Another netizen balked at the listing. “So disgusting. Every landlord is smiling [to the] the bank.”
PHOTO: Screengrab/TikTok/Radhiculas
There were other netizens who felt that the rental price was “reasonable”.
As a comparison, a master bedroom in an HDB flat at Pasir Ris has just been listed for $800 a month.
PHOTO: Screengrab/TikTok/Radhiculas
Eyebrow-raising flat rental prices
In another rental listing that has raised eyebrows, a five-room HDB flat in Queenstown was available for a staggering $6,500.
A screenshot of the advertisement, which was listed on PropertyGuru on Oct 28 last year, was posted on Reddit by user Umhihello, who asked fellow Redditors: “Who will bite?”
A quick check by AsiaOne on HDB’s website then showed that similar 5-room HDB units in the same block were rented out in July and August at $3,800 and $2,850 respectively, a far cry from the $6,500 asking price.
And on Feb 1, rent for a 4-room flat in Tiong Bahru went for a cool $6,200 – breaking the HDB flat rental record last year.
This comes as rents for HDB flats and condominiums continue to climb in December, marking the 30th straight month of growth for HDB rents, reported The Straits Times on Wednesday.
