Renting an apartment in Singapore

Budget about S$9,100 ($7,150) before you get keys to a S$3,500 flat on a twelve-month lease. That is one month of deposit, one month in advance, S$168 of lease stamp duty, and an agent fee the bottom of the market often pushes onto you. The duty is 0.4% of the rent over the whole term. Figures are September 2026.

Current at 9 September 2026. Dollars at SGD 1.27 to US$1, the rate of 8 September 2026.

The lease duty nobody raises until you have signed

You pay stamp duty on your own tenancy agreement. It is 0.4% of the total rent across the whole term, due within 14 days of signing. A S$4,000 flat on a 24-month lease is S$96,000 of rent, so S$384 ($302). It is the last line of cash in moving to Singapore anyone mentions. CHECK The rate is long-standing, but the tax authority's rate page is not machine-readable, so this figure rests on agent practice.

It is not the buyer's duty. That one is 60% on top of the price, under the foreigner stamp duty rules.

Two rules gate the lease. Your pass must be valid, and the Employment Pass salary floors decide whether you hold one. And private housing has a minimum let of three consecutive months under the Planning Act. Anything shorter is illegal short-term accommodation, with a fine up to S$5,000 (URA, updated 15 June 2026). Public flats need six months.

What you hand over before you get keys

The deposit is one month per year of lease, plus the first month in advance (Singapore, honestly, September 2026).

On a S$3,500 flat, twelve months	Cash
Security deposit, one month per year of lease	S$3,500 ($2,760)
First month's rent, in advance	S$3,500 ($2,760)
Lease stamp duty, 0.4% of S$42,000	S$168 ($132)
Agent, half a month plus 9% tax, where the custom bites	S$1,908 ($1,500)
Before you hold keys	S$9,076 ($7,150)

Sign for 24 months and the deposit doubles to S$7,000. With the advance month and S$336 of duty, that is S$10,836 ($8,530) before any agent fee.

A landlord pays their own agent half a month on a one-year lease, one month on a two-year. You pay only your own agent.

A good-faith deposit of one month goes down with the Letter of Intent, and converts into the security deposit.

Two costs are not yours. Maintenance fees of S$300–800 a month belong to the owner. And cap your repair liability in writing — the standard clause bills you up to S$150–300 an item.

On a 24-month lease, ask for a diplomatic clause. It lets you leave after 12 months with two months' notice if you are transferred or lose your job. Your right to stay in the country is tied to that job. Without the clause, losing it costs you S$7,000 on a S$3,500 flat.

The meter is not rigged, and the tariff resets every quarter

You open your own account with SP Group and pay the regulated tariff. There is no re-billing and no resort rate.

The tariff is 34.78 cents a kWh including tax, set for 1 July to 30 September 2026 (SP Group tariff table, read 10 September 2026). It resets quarterly, with the next reset at the end of September.

Switch to a retailer on the Open Electricity Market and pay roughly 10 to 20% below tariff. Geneco, Keppel, Senoko, Sembcorp, PacificLight and Union Power all sell to households.

A two-bedroom condo running one or two air conditioners at night uses 400 to 700 kWh a month, so S$140–245 ($110–193) at the current tariff. Add water and gas and you land at S$200–300 ($157–236). A public flat on fans alone runs S$80–130 ($63–102).

Water is S$1.56 a cubic metre up to 40 m³, S$1.97 above it, tax included (SP Group, Q3 2026). CHECK The book quotes S$3.24–3.50 all-in. The conservation tax and the waterborne fee sit outside that tariff line.

SP asks a foreigner for a deposit of about S$200 on a public flat, S$500 on a private one. CHECK Neither figure could be confirmed against SP's page.

Internet is never included. Fibre at 1 to 2 Gbps costs S$30–50 ($24–39).

"Fully furnished" has a definition here, "partially" a shorter one

Partially furnished means air conditioning, kitchen appliances, wardrobes, curtains and a water heater. Fully furnished adds beds, a sofa and a television. Studios and one-bedrooms are usually fully furnished — family units usually not (Singapore, honestly, September 2026).

Get the inventory into the agreement, item by item. Air-conditioner servicing is quarterly, and the tenant pays about S$30–40 a unit. Four units cost S$480 to S$640 a year.

Three to eight per cent comes off in the suburbs, nothing in prime

Ask for 3 to 8% off asking outside the centre. In prime districts, expect zero to three (Singapore, honestly, September 2026).

The market behind it: the private rental index rose 0.3% in the first quarter of 2026 and 0.7% in the second. All of the movement was prime. Core central rents rose 1.2%, the city fringe was flat, and the suburbs fell 0.3% (URA, 24 July 2026).

CHECK URA's vacancy figures point the other way. Vacancy is 8.3% in the core central region against 5.6% in the suburbs, in that same release. Empty prime stock has not become a prime discount, so read the 0–3% as custom, not a rule.

Only 1,212 private units completed in the second quarter of 2026, with about 5,000 due in the second half. Landlords prefer 24-month leases and trade rent for term. Ask for fresh paint and a clean rather than a cash cut.

Singapore, honestly runs the seven steps from shortlist to keys, and names the four clauses to settle in the Letter of Intent before your deposit moves.

Four portals carry almost every listing

PropertyGuru is the largest. 99.co carries SRX data and EdgeProp carries transaction data, so you can check an asking rent. Rooms go on Carousell Property, public flats on the HDB portal.

Serviced apartments take stays from seven days, bridging the three-month minimum.

Two clocks start the day you sign, and both run 14 days

Stamp the tenancy agreement within 14 days. You pay it, not the landlord.

Then update your address. Employment Pass and S Pass holders go through the manpower ministry, usually via the employer. Everyone else goes through the immigration authority. CHECK The research could not read the statute, so treat 14 days as practice, not a confirmed window.

A public flat adds a duty that is the landlord's. The housing board must approve you before you move in. Ask to see the letter, and check the non-citizen quota — 8% of a neighbourhood, 11% of a block. Where foreigners actually live covers which towns run full.

No police registration exists here, and no 90-day report.

Two scams take the deposit, and four checks stop both

The copied listing. Photographs lifted from a real advertisement, reposted well under market rent, with a deposit demanded before viewing. The unit is real. The person collecting is not.

The landlord who is overseas. The owner is said to be abroad, so you wire the deposit and the keys get couriered. They do not. Regulators and police warned on both through 2024 and 2025.

Four defences. They cost almost nothing.

Never pay before you have stood inside the unit.
Check the agent on the Council for Estate Agencies public register. It is free, and an unregistered agent cannot legally act.
Pay only the person named on the title. A land-authority title search costs a few dollars.
Insist on a written Letter of Intent before money moves.

One softer trap. Landlords' agents at the bottom of the market often ask the tenant to pay their half-month fee, on rents around S$3,500 and below. CHECK That is custom, not law — the regulator bans dual representation but does not set fees. It is negotiable.

What this page does not cover

The seven steps from shortlist to keys, and the four clauses to settle in the Letter of Intent before your deposit moves
The 24 buildings behind these rents, in five price bands, with a 1BR rent, a 2BR rent and a sale price per square metre
The public-flat rules in full: the eligible passes, the two-year approval, and the occupancy cap of eight that lapses on 31 December 2026
The monthly budget at three levels, line by line, including the bills nobody warns you about

All of it is in Singapore, honestly — 21 pages, $29. See what's inside

What you sign for depends on the area. The nine areas foreigners actually live in gives the rent and the honest drawback of each. Still choosing? Compare all ten cities first.