A new clinic set to open at Block 954C Tampines Street 96 will be paying a staggering S$52,188 in monthly rent.
According to documents released by the Housing & Development Board (HDB), the space was successfully tendered by Lum Sian Wei Shaun.
Source: HDB
The high rental bid has since made waves online, with many noting the steep price tag for a heartland location.
A screenshot of the document was first shared on LinkedIn by Dr Hisham Badaruddin, founder and CEO of Bartley Clinic, who called the sky-high price “obscene”.
His fellow doctors agreed, with one commenting that rent in Singapore is “abhorrently high”, especially for businesses.
Source: LinkedIn
Another commenter suggested the clinic might be an aesthetic practice, observing that more young doctors now pursue cosmetic work over traditional chronic care.
Source: LinkedIn
However, according to DocLah, Dr Lum — the successful tenderer — is listed as a General Practitioner (GP).
When asked what he would have expected for a clinic at that location, Dr Hisham cited rates at private medical centres for comparison: around S$17 per sq ft at Camden Medical and up to S$30 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital or Paragon Medical.
Assuming a typical HDB clinic size of under 1,000 sq ft, the Tampines rent works out to about S$52 per sq ft.
Source: LinkedIn
Dr Hisham’s later made its way to the r/Singapore subreddit, where the original poster (OP) questioned whether the figure marked a “new record”, referencing both million-dollar HDB resale flats and soaring rental prices.
“How do they even sustain?” they asked.
Since the post went up on Sunday (1 June), the thread has drawn over 220 comments, with netizens debating the feasibility of running a clinic amid rising rental costs in Singapore.
“52K is absolutely insane,” one user wrote, suggesting that the clinic would need to operate for long hours — possibly even 24/7 — to stay afloat.
Source: Reddit
Another questioned how much the clinic would have to charge for a basic consultation to break even.
Source: Reddit
One even broke down the monthly rent of S$52K into prices per consult and the number of patients the clinic would have to see a per month.
One commenter even did the maths, estimating that if the clinic charges S$50 per consultation, it would need to see at least 1,040 patients a month just to cover rent — excluding staff salaries and other overheads.
Source: Reddit
“It will be impossible to survive,” they concluded.
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Featured image adapted by studioroman on Canva, for illustration purposes only, and HDB.