Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta: the four main cities of Southeast Asia, although quite close to each other, offer a wide variety of lifestyle. Our relationship with our city is always a love-hate relationship, too much traffic but affordable, safe city but expensive, great weather but polluted, unsafe but very fun etc etc…
So to measure the best urban living experience in this part of the world, a good real estate magazine “Property Report” has published recently it’s own reader’s survey on what they like and dislike about their cities. They have measured and analysed cost of basic necessities, prices of apartments, rentals, and interviewed architects and analysts. Here is a sum up of the most interesting results.
Singapore
Kuala Lumpur
Jakarta
Bangkok
So wich city would you choose to live in?
Basically it really depends on what you are looking for. Singapore has high stability and safety but is expensive, KL is affordable with a vibrant nightlife but KLlites do not feel safe (? I feel much safer than in Paris), Jakarta is facing major problems of urbanisation, and Bangkok is affordable and fun but has a lot of pollution.
The franchising business in Singapore continues to be promising with more than 30,000 franchisees operating in the country. The sector currently has more than 420 franchise systems with an annual turnover of 5.48 billion Singapore dollars (about 3.63 billion U.S. dollars). Although a large number of franchised brands are still related to the food and beverage industry, other sectors such as education and childcare are fast catching up. 
