woodlands vs Bukit Timah.

I guess since your Kids are in SAS, woodlands seems to be a good choice. But there are not a lot of expats in the area. Bukit Timah might be a better choice if you want to live neat expats.

A lot of expats live in East Coast, Bikit Timah / Holland Village and Orchard/Town Area.

Hope this helps.

Nomad, Woodlands is closer to SAS, that's true. But Woodlands is what they call "ulu" here, i.e relatively remote from the  rest of Singapore. You'll probably find yourself driving to Central and East Singapore a lot during weekends especially, as these are the places that are a bit more happening.

Bukit Timah is more central, generally rather exclusive (hence more costly). It's an area well-liked by expats, so your odds of hooking up with these are higher here.

The East Coast is a great area to live; there's a park, beach, lots to do. I live there myself for those reasons. But it's a bit of a slog for your kids to SAS from here.

If you've got the budget, I'd recommend Bukit Timah. I used to live there when I was still in school here. In fact, we took the school bus to UWC, Dover Road, which was a bit of a drive, sure, but when you're a kid you take it in your stride. Plus it was a great way to finish up our homework

By the way, if you need a few more pointers on where in Bukit Timah you should look, by all means let me know.

Regards,

Bry

thank you so much for the input. These info surely help us greatly in looking for a place to settle in hopefully for the next 4 years. Our budget is not that much for Singapore real estate market but hopefully it should be adequate for a descent
landed house.anyone knows how much is a rent for a 4br house cost in Bukit Timah?

Lost Nomad,

Apologies for the late reply, I spent the last few weeks in Malaysia.

Bukit Timah is quite an upmarket district in Singapore, so for a 4 bedroom landed house you'll be paying upwards of S$10K.

I used to live in Bukit Timah, off Watten Estate, in a 4 bedroom landed house, in fact. It is a very nice area to live, quiet and rather well kept.

Keep in mind though that you'll need a car to be able to drive out of the estate, i.e. to the main road, because walking down or calling a cab is not a real option for the long term.

Also, please note that you'll be expected to maintain the garden, which you'd well to do frequently anyway, because due to the proximity of patches of vegetation, you'll find that you'll get visits from pests (from ants through roaches to snakes) if you don't.

By all means let me know if you have any additional questions.

Regards,

Bry

Hi Lost Nomad,

I am Singapore Kama'aina and I think Woodlands is a better bet for you.  Bukit Timah is a very expensive area.  It's an amazing place and full of expats nonetheless.  You will find that in Woodlands, just next to the SAS, there a lot of big houses too.  With cheaper rent, you can spend the extra cash on a car for easy commute or just splurge on cabs because they are cheap and convenient.  There is also an expat community in that part of Woodlands which I just mentioned.  If you go on googlemaps, just click on that landed property area next to the SAS.  I did hear that SAS is moving though. You might want to check that out too?

Faz

Lost, I am very interested to know if you have moved to Singapore and found a place.  We are considering moving there in July.  Our kids would attend SAS and for that reason we believe we would live in the Woodlands.  You sounded like you were in a similiar situation with kids going to SAS and possibly living in the Woodlands. If you have investigated further could you please share what you have learned? Have  you moved? How is SAS for your kids (how old are they)? And where did you find a place?  Could you tell me about cost for the Woodlands?  Thank you for your help. And if you have moved how is it in general and what should we bring and leave behind??? tia

Sonrisa, sorry it took me a while to response due to an overwhelming ventures of looking for a house to settle in. First, if you have more than one kid to be enrolled in SAS, I suggest that you register them early to get in line on their waiting list. I think it was just pure luck that I got all my three kids in such a short notice, otherwise you would have to split your kids in 2 different schools which definitely a hassle.
I finally found a place in Bukit Timah area, so my kids will  commute about 40 minutes to school everyday in the am and pm. I found out a lot of children here riding a bus to school, in fact, from where we stay now temporarily on Orchard, there are 6 other kids from the same pickup points. I didn't find any suitable houses in the Woodlands since most of them are either too small or too big for us. It's really nothing in between for us a family of 2 adult and 3 kids. But it is a great location though. Most of the house rentals in the Woodlands are either below 8-9k max/month for corner terrace house(3-4 story) or 14-15k and up for a huge bungalow(7 to 8 bedrooms min). As you can see the terrace house has very limited in space horizontally and the space mainly are stacked in levels; my husband and I just don't like houses that's more than 2 story. I met a lot of parents during the school orientation and it seems that  more and more people opted living out of Woodland...and so that's what make us comfortable for choosing a place at Bukit tImah which is somewhat  on the center between the school and my husband work place.

Hello everyone.  We are a family of four relocating on short notice to S'pore in March.  We are on a Corporate Relocation which helps a bunch, however, we too are stuck between Bukit Timah and Woodlands.  The kids will be going to SAS, mom is working near refinery.  Stay-at-home Dad wants to be able to get out and do things and will need to rely on public transportation.  Our big conundrum is this: We have to pack and ship all our household furniture BEFORE we visit Singapore to househunt.  Company budgets us around S$12K/month rent.  In Woodlands we would likely fit all our furniture, but would we find the kids bedrooms small in Bukit Timah?  I know it depends on many things, like the size of our furniture (2 x bunk beds with double bed on bottom, single on top).  Honestly, I've googled for hours and can't get a feel for how big rooms are in that price range.  Whatever I don't ship to Singapore will stay in the US for 3 years until we return.  I'd hate to leave drawers and the like here only to find that our house in Singapore does in fact have room.  We prefer the bigger, newer, more modern look of homes in Singapore, but we REALLY don't want to feel like we're isolated in Surburbia.  I know my post is all over the place, but can anyone relate to me and explain why they picked Woodlands or Bukit Timah ???  Thanks so much.

All areas of Singapore (outside of the centre) are fairly similar.
With your rental budget you should be able to find a big enough apartment anywhere. (Furniture is also readily available and excess pieces can easily be disposed, so don't worry too much about what to ship!)
So, distance of commute is the only major consideration.
Woodlands is the furthest North from the city centre, nearer to Malaysia than the city. SAS is there, but everything else is far (by Singapore standards, which means at most an hour by public transport). Bukit Timah is more central, but further from SAS.
The refineries are in the South-West of Singapore (Jurong), many on offshore islands. Commuting there is a pain (and takes long from anywhere). Bukit Timah is much nearer to Jurong than Woodlands, but even better would be a place near the East-West MRT.