Nick Burns made six figures in the United States and still found it hard to save. In San Francisco, the 35-year-old lived downtown and spent an hour and a half each way commuting to Silicon Valley, then moved to Singapore and eventually bought a home there with his wife.
Burns grew up in Connecticut and served in the Navy. While in uniform, he first visited Singapore and was struck by how clean the city was and how fast its public transport ran. After leaving the Navy in 2017, he moved to San Francisco for work and later worked in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
Life in California never felt as stable as the paycheck suggested. Burns said his two-bedroom apartment cost $5,728 a month, plus a $300 reserved parking fee, and that it was not unusual to pass dark alleys and see people openly using drugs. Even as a single man, he said, he felt unsafe walking around. By January 2020, he took a lateral transfer and relocated to Singapore with his company.
In 2023, Burns married his wife, and in 2025 the couple bought a four-room public housing apartment on the city fringe for 1.01 million Singapore dollars, or about $790,000. They were able to buy the HDB flat because she is Singaporean and he holds permanent residency. The stamp duty and down payment came to about SG$280,150, most of it paid in cash and about 20% from their CPF, with the rest financed through a bank loan. Their monthly mortgage is about SG$3,520.
The purchase fits the larger picture behind singapore’s housing debate. Singapore is regularly ranked among the world’s most expensive cities, and HDB flats — government-built homes that make up most housing there — are primarily reserved for citizens. Burns did not sound like someone planning a return ticket. He said plainly, “I don’t want to go back to the United States,” a judgment shaped by the cost, commute and unease he left behind.
