SINGAPORE: A netizen who started a conversation online, sharing his observation about fresh-out-of-university Singaporeans struggling to find jobs, middle-aged locals lamenting the rising cost of living and dealing with debt, as well as “thinning” opportunities in the city-state, asked others if Singapore is on the path toward a “soft breaking point,” which he described as a point where there is enough discontent that it becomes impossible for policymakers to ignore.
While some agreed that discontent is present in the city-state, with one pointing to the concerning “crazy public housing prices” in Singapore, many said the city-state is a mixed bag—some may be complaining, but others are thriving.
One commenter said, “My HDB carpark seems to be filled with more new conti cars these past few years. I would say a lot of people are low-key but very cash-rich. Especially those who can drop millions on an HDB.”
Another cited the city-state’s rising housing prices, people are fighting to buy, condos being over-subscribed and middle-income locals saving enough to buy huge villas in neighbouring countries to retire, as proof the little red dot may be doing well.
A residential project launched by property developer Wing Tai Holdings in August, which was described as the best-selling Core Central Region (CCR) project at that time, sold 88% of its units the day after it launched. This happened despite netizens complaining about the project’s “very small” 980 sq ft four-bedroom units.
“More people are thriving than you realise. Yes, a lot of us are suffering, but a lot more are doing better than ever before,” the commenter wrote.
On Friday (Nov 21), the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) upgraded Singapore’s GDP growth forecast for the year to around 4 per cent from its previous 1.5% to 2.5% forecast in August amid better-than-expected performance of the economy in the third quarter of 2025 (Q3).
MTI said it had expected global growth to slow down at that time due to the dissipation of the boost from front-loading activities and the reinstatement of the US’s reciprocal tariffs after the temporary pause, but global economic conditions have turned out to be more resilient than expected.
The Singapore economy performed better than expected in Q3, thanks to trade-related sectors such as manufacturing, wholesale trade and transportation and storage outperforming expectations, the resilience of the city-state’s trading partners and global trade, as well as strong global demand for AI-related semiconductors, servers and server-related products.
Still, the little red dot’s GDP may not fully capture the day-to-day micro-realities of locals. /TISG
