HDB housing used to be cheap but this is not true anymore. Why I say that? Look up north, an engineer with a few years experience makes 3-5k ringgit. An engineer here with a few years experience makes 3-5k in SGD. For 200k+ ringgit you can buy quite a nice condo in KL (new or almost new) with all the facilities (swimming pool, gym, security guard, tennis court, squash court even). Here, what can 200k+ SGD get you? In this market you can probably get a 40 year old 3 room HDB if you want to live reasonably close to town. A 3 room 40 year old flat in Queenstown costs anywhere from 250k - 300k btw, I checked.