Correct me if I'm wrong but that was in those days when the government became irresponsible and did not build sufficient BTO flats. This caused resale flats' COV to shoot up to as high as $100-120k. Instead of addressing the issue, Mah Bow Tan back then even got the cheek to say it was a good thing as he was helping home owners make profits from their flats. Useless overpaid minister!
Coming back to the topic... yes, there are MANY RICH Singaporeans indeed!
People are still willing to pay big money to buy smaller homes here cos they and their families want to live, study, work here. Not everyone can tahan the journey from JB to Singapore and then back to JB. The developers in property advertisements always make the distance from SG to Iskandar sound so close. "Oh it's a 10-15 minutes drive from CIQ." Haha... Try going in during peak hours. How about when there is delay at the checkpoint? And from Woodlands or Tuas, you still need to drive to work, which could be in the city. Overall time from JB home to actual workplace could be 1 hour or longer.
My colleague sold off his house in Iskandar for a profit and decided to come back to Singapore cos his kids need to study here and the traveling to and fro everyday was just too much. Even my Malaysian colleague who lives in JB got to leave work like 5+am in the morning and when he reaches here at 7+am he got to steal some sleep before starting work. If he leaves home later, the jam could be terrible. This is one factor I think some who are thinking of staying in Johor and work here have not fully considered.
But if you are retired or semi-retired, "eng-eng cheng-cheng", kids all grown up, it's a different story.
Another reason why people here are willing to pay a lot more for smaller homes is the safer environment in SG and policies here are better planned than Malaysia's. No offence when I say this even though I am not a government supporter. Medical care is generally much better and more advanced. It's so convenient to travel also. You can be out at 1am and not fear being robbed or raped. One big downside is SG is very crowded.
It's really all about the confidence investors have about SG. Properties here also have more opportunities to rise in value compared to JB's. Otherwise, for eg, who in the right mind will pay more than a million $ for a small 5-bedroom flat in Pinnacle? Or $800+k for a small 4-room flat in Toa Payoh?
Well, maybe they are rich? But even if they are not, they see the potential and value in those expensive HDB flats.
Honestly, if I have 2 million Sing dollars to spend solely on property alone, I'd rather buy a 3 bedroom condo in SG than a very big house in JB. But that's the working adult me. Like I said, if I "eng eng cheng cheng" already retired, no liabilities, then living in JB may not be so bad.