Singapore is benefiting from wealthy Chinese people leaving China, being a finance hub, and being a city state (small).

I can double an investment of 1€ easily; with 100 Million, it is a bit more difficult.

The problem is probably complex, and my bet is it has to do with incentives regarding tourism. When a desirable place gets an influx of people with a lot more purchase power than the locals, distortions happen. Prices, for instance, might reflect what tourists can pay, pricing out the locals. It is a delicate balance, and I guess it comes with globalization.

That's not even an apple to oranges comparison. Also, Singapore is one of the most expensive cities on earth.

I think it's the autos ownership that make it so. If you dont own cars, it's not that expensive.

lol that's such an abuse of statistics that absolutely makes no sense

The problem in Portugal is the relation between income and housing cost. If the average rent of a 1 bedroom is 1000/month, and the average net income is 1300/month, you have a problem.

And oh boy are they building. Entire new zones that didn't even exist 20 years ago are now full of high rise buildings, public transport, shopping malls, ... But the prices to live there are phenomenal, even to western european standards.

Another datapoint, the average salary is about 1300, but the median is about 900. So more than half the people literally can't rent.

Rent is solely a function of supply and demand. They're focusing on the demand side, by looking to limit Airbnbs and golden visa immigration, when they should be looking at the supply side, and how permitting delays and zoning restrictions prevent housing construction.

How is turning a beautiful country into a 'concrete jungle' ever a solution?

Singapore is also an authoritarian concrete jungle, among one of the most expensive cities in the whole world.

Let's try not ruin a beautiful country like Portugal by turning it into S'pore, aye?

Not to disagree about the beauty in Portugal, but I visited Singapore as a young child, and it's so much nicer now because of the greenery they're adding within the city.

Also, at Singapore population density (I have different numbers from the other commenter), even if the entire EU moved there it would still be 42% untouched (and the rest of the EU would be empty).

i don't understand this comment.

by any measure (for example wealth, health, social security, safety, housing, jobs) Singapore is outranking most of Europe, including Portugal.

I'll take literally any country in Europe, the Balkans (where I'm from, a tiny poor shithole for lack of a better word) included over S'pore any day of the week.

I lived there for a while, and I could go the rest of my life without ever even thinking of stepping foot into that depressing hole of a country again. These cute stats people like to throw around are nice and all in theory, but actually living there is a whole other story.

Maybe things have changed in the last 7 years since I last lived there, but I very much doubt it.

Things have only gotten worse. I left the island after more than 6 years there, moved to EU and couldn’t be happier. The stats vs the real life statement totally makes sense.

Political Unwillingness, not inability