Is living in Geylang safe for young families?
I’m in my mid 30s, local Singaporean, married to my husband, also mid 30s. We’ve been looking for apartments to buy, but with the crazy home prices it’s been rough finding something within our budget.
We saw a few condo units in Geylang (such as *condo name redacted*) going for pretty good prices. My husband, being a foreigner, is completely okay with living in Geylang and can’t understand why it’s so affordable despite it being so close to town. However, as a local, I’ve been hardcore dissuaded by my parents from living in Geylang and of course grew up hearing people talk about how dangerous Geylang is.
Is Geylang really still an unsafe place, in general? Has anyone had any sketchy experiences in the recent years?
I’d like some first-hand experiences to counter my mum’s constant fear-mongering – “wah if you live in Geylang then you cannot come home late.. so unsafe, you will get assaulted and your husband will get slashed hor”. Or who knows, maybe she’s right and I’m the clueless one?
Netizens’ comments
- I lived in a condo at Lorong 14 Geylang for several years. Inspite of being in the midst of exciting night activites (7pm to 5am), which I enjoyed watching from my window, it was safe to walk out alone in the brightly lighted areas when the streets are not empty. I have never been harassed or stopped, probably, because the business-men and business ladies are able to “sense” if you are a local in search of fun or food.
The red light areas are in the even numbered lorongs from Lor 4 to Lor 20, together with salvation buildings, (temples, churches).
The food places are in the odd number lorongs.
*condo name redacted* is well-well out of the way of the red-light district. Instead of saying “buying a condo in Geylang”, say “buying a condo in Geylang East, Sims Avenue, Aljunied”. - Location wise its not on the geylang lorong side so its pretty okay.
Why is it so affordable is because of the size of the unit, the newer condos 3 bedrooms are 94x to 98x for non yard layout. Those with yard are typically 10xx sqft.
The older ones are 11xx – 12xx sqft at least.
Depending on which layout you are looking at and what kind of plans you have, most SG families with kids got stay in HDB at least once, the will always compare the next place with their existing, 4rm HDB nowadas are 88-94 sqm. Meaning they will look at something at least 1000sqft.
I feel the problem with *condo name redacted* (3 bedroom layout) is
– Master bedroom is quite small
– Both common rooms are uneven in size, which can be very annoying for families
– The stigma with geylang, most families with kids below 6 will highly likely stay away from the area. (this project is 1km to a very good famous primary sch though so it will appeal to older kids families)
– The facade, its very near the MRT tracks so MRT noise + dust, and the facade doesn’t give a very nice condo vibes
– A lot of workers around the area as well - Geylang has been undergoing gentrification. You can study plans from URA that show you the land allocation and potential uses for that area. I have been at Geylang at all hours over the years as a local and have never felt unsafe! I’m a late 20s F if that helps.