Asking for genuine advice here. We are a young couple (26M/ 25F) who have graduated not long ago and started working. Initially, we had planned to get married in the next couple of years and to have at least 2 if not 3 kids as we loved kids.
However, the bto delays and sharp rise in housing prices especially for HDB flats have badly affected our plans and left us feeling helpless. We are not high earners, me earning 3.5k and my gf 3k. We have some savings for housing but definitely not sufficient to get an overpriced HDB or private housing without overstretching. Living with our parents is not an option as both our places are old and overcrowded- I live in a 3 room flat with 4 other members while she came from a 2 room flat. We have thought of 4 options:
1) Try for a bto. Not easy to get one and even if we successfully ballot for one quickly, it would take 5-6 years for the construction, renovations etc to complete. As we only wanted kids when we have our own place, we may have less kids due to our age.
2) Bite the bullet and buy a high price resale flat in a good location. We can’t afford to lose our jobs in that case and have to scrimp and save for the loan payment. Cutting back expenses means we probably can only afford to have one kid or have to push back having kids till we have better finances.
3) Get a cheaper resale in a far location. We will face a long travel time to our workplaces as we both don’t fully wfh. Means we sleep less and may be bad for our mental health idk. Or we have to spend more on grab/taxi or get a car or bike. 4) Rent somewhere (room/ shared apartment) and wait for the market to cool down. We don’t know if or how long this will take so it’s taking a gamble. It’s also hard to have kids if we are renting a small place.
What will you guys do if you were me?