NAFA (University of the Arts Singapore) — housing guide for new students

October 2026 intake · Suggested move-in: mid-September to early October 2026

What this budget actually rents

• Budget S$900–1,100 — The Plaza Common room · shared bathroom S$950–1,250; Burlington Square Common room · shared bathroom S$1,000–1,300; Sunshine Plaza Common room · shared bathroom S$1,050–1,350; The Bencoolen Common room · shared bathroom S$1,100–1,400
• Budget S$1,200–1,500 — Sunshine Plaza Large common room S$1,200–1,500; Parc Emily Common room · shared bathroom S$1,200–1,500; City Square Residences Common room · shared bathroom S$1,250–1,450; Uptown @ Farrer Common room · shared bathroom S$1,250–1,550
• Budget S$1,700+ — City Square Residences Master room · en-suite S$1,700–2,100; Uptown @ Farrer Master room · en-suite S$1,700–2,150; Piccadilly Grand Master room · en-suite S$1,850–2,300; Sophia Hills Master room · en-suite S$1,900–2,400

Buildings within a 20-minute walk of this campus. Room rents come mainly from current public listings; official rental data is used to place the area's overall level · updated August 2026. Actual rent moves with the room type, the building, when you move in and how long you take it for.

Where the campus is, and the commute

The nearest MRT station to campus is Bencoolen (DT Line), about a 2-minute walk. In Singapore what matters is the number of interchanges, not the distance on a map — the same 3 km is a very different journey direct versus with two changes. Every building page carries the actual public-transport route and time to campus.

Find housing near this school on the map →

Choosing the type of housing

• School / student accommodation: NAFA states that it does not operate student hostels and international students must arrange accommodation independently. No current public recommended-provider list was found. The school’s own accommodation page (read 2026-08-22) →
• A private room: A room inside a private unit: the campus is on Bencoolen Street, in the middle of the densest stretch of private rooms in town — small rooms, and almost no commute.
• A whole unit, shared: Take a whole unit with classmates: a whole unit gives you somewhere to practise and to keep equipment, which matters in music and design.

Sharing a whole unit is not automatically cheaper than a single room, nor automatically dearer. What it buys is the whole place, roommates you chose, and more freedom in how you live. Whether it works out comes down to the headcount and the actual whole-unit rent at the time — your housing plan works that through for your case.

Areas worth looking at

• Bencoolen — A 2-minute walk to campus, with the MRT at the door · ≈ 2-min walk from campus
• Rochor — A 5-minute walk, and a notch cheaper · ≈ 5-min walk from campus
• Sophia — Up the hill — the quietest of these, a 6-minute walk · ≈ 6-min walk from campus
• Little India — A bigger room for the same budget, and food late at night · ≈ 7-min walk from campus

Three traps to avoid first

• Read the lease before you pay anything. If someone wants a deposit before showing you the tenancy agreement, stop there.
• Getting your deposit back comes down to the move-in inventory — photograph every item on the day you move in.
• There is a legal cap on how many people may occupy a unit. Confirm it before sharing; do not just count bedrooms.

The full anti-scam checklist →

A housing plan for NAFA (University of the Arts Singapore)

What you get is not a pile of listings but a plan you can decide from: for your school, your intake, your move-in date and your budget, it puts student accommodation, a private room and a shared whole unit side by side — rent, commute, lease term, utilities, the total for the year, the risks and a recommendation.

I’m a NAFA (University of the Arts Singapore) student · get my housing plan · See a sample housing plan first →

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