Batgung - Cost of Living

Life in Hongkong for Indians

THEWALL — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:44:37 +0000

Hi,

I will have to move to Hongkong in the month of June for an onsite assignment for my client DFS.

I would like to know the cost of living in HK, accomodation in a decent apartment and it's monthly Rent (not luxurious) and cost for other basic necessities. I know this is a very vague question and depends on the way you lead your life but still would like to know the ground realities.

Consider that i am an average spender would not go into too much luxury.

Can you please let me know your thoughts on the queries above.

Thanks in Advance,

Naveen "THEWALL"

Questions about moving to HK

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:34:40 +0000

Hi there and thank you for your great website, loads of useful information.

I currently am contemplating a move to HK as I have a potential opportunity there. It's a bit early stage, but if it materializes, it will be really quick.

I've gathered quite a bit of information, but there are 2 main ones which seem to elude me a bit, and maybe you can help:

* Rental cost: everywhere I look, I read something different. Once I read rents have gone down 30%, another they have gone up 10%. Then you read you need to negotiate 30% of the advertised price. Then you read that actually your rent is a random number generated somewhere on planet Mars depending on the phases of the moon and varies between 10k and 100k for the same flat! Seriously, if I want to decide whether I'll make the move, I need to budget correctly. The potential job is on HK island (I don't have more details for now), and I'll plan to live within roughly 30m commute at most. My question is how realistic is it going to be to find a 3 bedroom, 70+ square meters for less the 20k HK$. And more interestingly, could it be more like 10 or 15k? or am I deluding myself and it will be more like 30k?

* Second question is about schools. I've noticed on your website how expensive international schools are. But on the other hand, I'd pretty much like my kid to learn English and Chinese (whether mandarin or cantonese). The thing is, we speak neither of these languages at home, and although we are quite fluent in English, we'll never be in a position to help our kid in Chinese. Which means, if we decide to go for a local school, is it going to be possible for him without any help from his parents (and also us communicating with his teachers). Or are there any other options that offer solid education, Chinese learning for non-Chinese family and also being cost conscious (I have difficulties getting along with the concept of paying tons of money for education when in Europe you get it most of the time for free (well there are taxes but hey it does feel free ;) ) Btw, are local schools free?

Thanks for your advice.

Cost of Living

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:56:52 +0000

I'm trying to find out how much one can save (in terms of salary) in HK. I live in Toronto, apartment rent is USD 900/month for a 500 sqft. Commute to downtown Toronto is 40 minutes via short bus ride to subway station (less than 20 kms to downtown).

90% of the time, we cook at home - Asian food, so cheaper compared with western diet.

Total household income (married couple) is USD 85,000/yr. No kids.

At the end of the year, we're able to save 30% of our salary.

Applying roughly the same thing to HK, let's say, 5-10 minute walk to subway station, then 30 minutes commute to central via subway. No car.

Will it still be possible to save 30% of the same salary?