Ever wondered who lives in landed houses in Singapore? We’re still the fourth most expensive city to live in. In our previous article, you read about how the price trends are like over Singapore. We’ve never touched on who owns them, or have a better chance at landing a home like this, which is where this write-up comes in.

How does one purchase a $2 mil home (complete with down payment plan and monthly house servicing

On the basis that the minimum price of a landed home is roughly $2 mil (you can check out what’s the most affordable landed homes are like here), a potential entry buyer will need to have minimum 25% based on Loan-to-Value ratio. This, you can pay using 5% cash ($100K), and the rest with CPF ($400K).

To come up with this, you need to save $500K.

Servicing the loan

You have $1.5 mil outstanding, which is serviced through a mortgage loan. Supposing it’s at a modest rate of 3.5% interest rate over 35 years, and adhering to the TDSR of a conservative 40%, your monthly repayment* comes up to

$6,199.36, or $6,200 monthly.

Total interest, is about $1.1 mil.

Minimum income to service the loan

Calculating from this, we can expect a combined income of $15,500/monthly minimum, to service the loan.

Alright. So that leaves with the $500K down payment, And that’s excluding renovations and maintenance.

Conservatively, that amounts to a combined income of at least

$6,200/monthly mortgage

Affording the monthly for the house

$6,200/monthly mortgage
$1,500/monthly for maintenance and utilities

A minimum of $7,700/monthly is required to maintain the house.

Saving for that $500K down payment

But to accumulate the $500K down payment, assuming you don’t have other obligations and to save realistically, you’ll have to save

$4,167/monthly, over 10 years, before parting with the $7.7K/monthly when the house purchase is successful.

So that means, you’ll have to set aside about 10 years to afford a $2 mil home, with a steady joint income of

$15,500/monthly joint income and save $4,167/monthly for 10 years

Purchasing the landed property

$7,700/monthly to maintain the house,
excluding savings, and emergency funds.

For ease of calculations, we have omitted CPF contributions. You will be able to use 20% of the total payment using CPF, so if money within the Ordinary Account CPF available, it is possible to offset the down payment with that.

So onto the next topic..

What are the jobs should landed owners land on to have a landed home?

We’ve been pretty optimistic for articles, and we have to be, because no one wants a sob story and we need to keep our spirits lifted, especially during these pandemic times. Once all of this is over (and we do hope we see that day soon), our economy will catapult back into place. But the gravity of the pandemic shouldn’t be understated. In 2020 last year, over 100,000 people became unemployed, and job hunting is hard. It was also expected for Singapore’s economy to recover and grow in 2021, reflected in the growth of 0.2 per cent year-on-year (though not as optimistic as we had hoped back in the MTI forecasts), and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) hike of 2 per cent.

Optimistically based on Michaelpage.com, 40% of companies aimed to increase headcount in 2021, and with healthcare and tech industries booming, there seems to be a silver lining after all.

Based on the $15,500 monthly you need to have for at least a $2 million dollar home, let’s check out what are the most trending jobs that’ll earn you that sort of moolah.

To keep things interesting, we’re going to leave out the usual suspects such as doctors, lawyers, basically anything most traditional asian parents highly suggest. We’re also going to keep the setting to dual-income earners for the first part, so that the possibility of owning a landed home is feasible for most family dynamics.

Senior Java Developer
Up to $9,000 monthly

Bridging the gap between product offerings and user needs, developing distributed and scalable solutions for market connectivity gateways using FIC or other financial protocols.

FMCG Digital e-Commerce Manager

Up to $9,500 monthly

Requirement: Aside from experience in the sector, to have conversational and written skills in Bahasa, Thai or Korean.

Building and creating digital-driven marketing plans, work with regional e-commerce partners to evaluate marketing solutions and bridging brand gaps to improve KPIs. Oversee and enhancement of websites. Conduct initiations, workshops, trainings and learning programs, and manage agency relationships, with successful project delivery.

Project Manager (Construction)

$6,000 to $10,000 monthly

Cover PM works for building/warehousing projects. Oversee entire process in operational and admin procedures. Project planning, cost control, regulatory compliance and project documentation. Work with sub-cons, clients and consultants, leading a team of project staff.

IT lead

$7,000- $12,000 monthly

We haven’t dropped in a link, because IT is currently pretty hot. Wherever you turn, geeks are no longer considered ostracised or mocked at as they used to be in early 80s and 90s western culture. They’re in such demand that IT personnel gets headhunted pretty often, due to their 20% to 30% salary increment on every jump.

Creative Director

Averaging on $8,500 monthly, but up to $19,000 monthly for agencies.

You can do a quick search, and you’ll find Google, Ogilvy or even Havas Worldwide have job opportunities like these. For this role, one is to be the overall lead for creative content and to observe and anticipate market trends to have these applied to content strategies. This job applies from social media, to videos, articles, basically Through-the-Line approach. And from the title, you’ve gotta have the experience before getting this job.

Of course, if you’re the sole breadwinner, the expectations rise roughly double of a dual-income family.

C-suite roles

Starting from $27,000 monthly, or $325,000 annually

You’ve heard of them, probably hardly see them, and if you’re one of them, that one percentile title never bothered you anyway.

Chief Financial Officers, Chief Executive Officers, Chief Operating Officers that run the top industry such as FinTech, Chemical Engineering, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Retail, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) can go up to over $40,000 a month.

Headhunters source for placing these executive roles directly, so you probably don’t see adverts out for the job.

Investment Banking Director

Up to $31,000 monthly, or $373,000 annually

Banks heavily delve into investment, which like how our previous articles mentioned on bank rates, play with the rise and fall of these percentages. They acquire major clients to generate revenue, applying strong analytical skills, strong financial literacy and top-notch communication and public-speaking skills.

Regulatory Affairs Director

Starting from $26,000 monthly, or $320,000 annually

Dealing with the healthcare and life sciences sector demands a specific skillset, with fluency in scientific and legal documents, government and company regulations to ensure all legalities are considered and adhered.

Head of Human Resources

Up to $23,000 monthly, or $275,000 annually

Identify key areas to improve in corporations, develop and sustain employee engagement, retaining talent, and workforce plans. HR Directors are in high demand right now, especially with the fluctuating global COVID-19 situation.

With landed properties being a profitable opportunity right now, is it time for your next move?

Info aided by MichaelPage’s article in market updates for 2021.

*courtesy mortgage calculator