Wahh... How come you have changed your opinion? Thought you've always supported renting a property in Johor?
My opinions are below. But seems like I must clarify every time that these are strictly how I feel. Agree or not is not my problem to argue with anyone. Learn to respect. If anyone is angry, just walk away. Don't be an idiot by pushing your personal opinions on me.
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For the jams at the causeway, we don't know the real reason unless we stand there and ask everyone why they are entering Johor. Otherwise, it's too easy to make assumptions SG is getting expensive so people are going there.
Seriously, total up the amount you can save by going over to Johor to shop and eat vis-a-viz your salary. How much do you save? Consider that you spend say 30 mins driving from your home to the causeway, 3-4 hours jam both ways, then maybe another 40 mins or so driving within JB, pay tolls, and face fatique from driving.
If you save S$100 (RM300 sounds good huh?) in this one trip, is it worth it? For me, it's not because I can earn more for the time and sweat I have to sacrifice on a weekend. But Singaporeans are known to spend their time uselessly waiting in queues to get some ridiculous Hello Kitty dolls, watching K dramas, sms-ing rubbish on the phones, playing Pokemon Go, or eat their favourite foods.
So those cars on the road could be just recreational families who don't mind waiting hours just to eat their favorite food, rather than desperate people trying to save money. In fact, I would think if the cost of living in SG is too much for them, why do they still own a car? That should be something they would be thinking of dumping.
Slowly and surely, Singaporeans will move over to Johor. But I think the number will remain insignificant compared to the resident population in SG. 5 years is too short a time for that to happen. Maybe 20-30 years later? But then again, that's too long a time frame and no one is right or wrong to predict anything.
If you look at prices of HDB flats back in the '80s, buyers could easily buy them from about S$30k to S$80k. If you could travel back in time, and tell people back then that in a few decades' time, smaller flats would typically cost $500k to a million$, they would say you are crazy and that no one can survive at that kind of prices. But look at today. Yes, people complain and complain, but isn't everyone still buying and owning their flats at those prices?
SG is still very much sustainable in the next 5 to 10 years. I don't know beyond that. I believe it should be. It's just that people have to manage their expectations. The perks of staying in a safe, strong, convenient country are too attractive to sacrifice moving to a foreign place like Johor. Now, this opinion is not just from me but from the many people I have been talking to since 2014 -- my friends, relatives, colleagues, retirees, strangers I meet at talks, Singaporeans, Chinese/Indian nationals, Malaysians, PRs, etc. So far, believe or not, ALL told me the same thing.
Bottom line is, no point comparing. There will always be more beautiful homes than yours. There will always be many a lot richer than us. Wealth and properties are things we can't take when we leave this world. Important thing is to be happy.
I also don't see how VEP will be a big game-changer. I see a contradiction in that statement actually. Now that you see many Singapore cars are going to JB and causing a jam at the causeway, you conclude this is due to the high cost of living. Then when VEP is implemented, and fewer cars go in to JB, does it mean the cost of living in SG has dropped? No it hasn't. So what do we conclude?
Move over to Johor if it's for personal reasons. Will many general Singaporeans go over because cost of living is rising in SG? I don't think so. Not in the next 5-10 years. The Singapore "spirit" of calling this country "home" is still very strong among not just Singaporeans but PRs and even foreigners!