HK narrows gap with mainland on expat costs of living
The falling US dollar and the rising yuan have narrowed the advantage Beijing and Shanghai enjoy over Hong Kong in costs of living for expatriates, a worldwide survey shows.
But ECA International, which carried out the survey, said Hong Kong could not draw much satisfaction from its findings.
Worsening air pollution and the lack of school places could put expatriates, especially those with families, off the city, said ECA's Lee Quane. And the survey does not factor in rents; an earlier survey by the company found rents for expatriates in Hong Kong were the highest in the world.
'Hong Kong is getting cheaper but the city was in fact less attractive to expatriates,' Mr Quane said.
The survey, carried out in March, found Seoul remained the most expensive city in Asia for expatriates, followed by Tokyo, Yokohama and Kobe, all in Japan.
Hong Kong ranked fifth of the 39 Asian cities covered by the survey, unchanged from ECA's previous half-yearly survey. Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore occupied sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth place respectively. The survey provides information for multinationals that need to send senior executives overseas.
'The general cost of living in Shanghai is 8 per cent lower than in Hong Kong now. Five years ago, Shanghai's cost of living was 18 per cent lower,' Mr Quane said.
He said the narrowing of the gap should help Hong Kong maintain a competitive edge in attracting foreign companies.
ECA surveys the prices of a basket of 125 goods and services in 300 cities worldwide. Mr Quane said some items in Beijing and Shanghai, such as imported clothing and entertainment, were more expensive than in Hong Kong. But mainland cities were still cheaper for daily necessities.
In global terms, Hong Kong dropped to 81st costliest city for expatriates in March, down from 78th in September. Beijing rose to 103rd costliest, from 107th, while Shanghai climbed from 122nd to 115th. The latest rankings took the mainland cities past Melbourne and some cities in eastern Europe and Canada.
Luanda, capital of Angola, was the most expensive city in the world for expatriates, followed by the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
ECA's survey on housing costs, released two months ago, showed that rent on a three-bedroom apartment suitable for expatriates was 20 per cent higher in Hong Kong than in Tokyo and 115 per cent higher than in Shanghai.
