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Comment by jimmydef | Hacker News Reader

The utility of a car in singapore is very different from other places. Yes, a car will get you faster from point A to point B in singapore when compared to public transport. But you can get a private hire car or a taxi which is just as fast and is probably much more convenient.

For many people in Singapore, a car's real utility is to signal status. More often than not, this status gets you real-life benefits. Such as increased dating success.

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interestingly enough though, car ownership, and even having a driver's license is increasingly less common among the young.

Yes, because when adjusted to car ownership costs, the young have a lower purchasing power when compared to the older generation at the same age back then.

I'm not sure that's a good lens to look through: the total number of cars in Singapore is fixed, and ownership cost adjusts (via the CoE auction) to balance supply and demand.

So there's no drop in total car ownership to explain: that one is held fixed. What we'd need to explain is why comparatively more older people and fewer younger people drive.

Singapore residents are not limited to one car. There's a lot of regional ultra rich in Singapore, and it's not unusual for them to have half a dozen or more cars, all of which count against the total cap.

The total number of cars is fixed.

Singapore's population has exploded in the past 20 years, almost doubling due to immigration. Native birth rate has collapsed.

Many relatively wealthy foreign individuals have moved to Singapore, disproportionately middle aged and above. These folks also compete in buying car quotas. They can also buy more than one car. Their demand is more inelastic.

Younger folks, local or foreign born are priced out.

That seems like a plausible hypothesis.

Btw, I don't think you need the assumption that the rich people's car demand is inelastic.

For Singapore's boomers, success once meant the 5 Cs: cash, car, credit card, condominium and country club. For today's young Singaporeans, these no longer define success.

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