Saturday, May 5, 2012

Hong Kong Prices

People keep asking me about prices in Hong Kong. I’m running into a lot of people online who are going to move to Hong Kong or are thinking about it. I guess it makes sense to ask me because I live here. The thing is, it’s almost impossible to tell people how expensive Hong Kong is. Everyone’s experience will be different. Where you live, what you eat and how you spend your free time will make all the difference in the world.

The single biggest expense will be rent. What you pay in rent will vary greatly depending on location, size and type of apartment. Any website that tells you the “average” price in Hong Kong is misleading you. The expat and business areas where all the expats and business people seem to want to live are far more expensive. Prices drop dramatically just a few MTR stops away. They get even lower if you go farther. As a general rule, wherever you want to be is more expensive. My apartment in Mong Kok, in the same size and configuration, would cost three times as much at Mid-Levels and half at Tai Po. My best advice is that you probably don’t need to be so close to your job. Walking to work would be nice, but how many people get to do that? And in Hong Kong’s oppressive humidity, you probably don’t want to walk in your business clothes. The MTR is surprisingly efficient, relatively clean and very affordable if you get an Octopus card. It is only a few minutes between each stop and even though it’s always crowded, it all moves quickly. Some stops are best avoided at certain holidays.

Expats, in my experience, want unrealistically enormous apartments. Hong Kong is a large city. Like New York or London, if you want a huge apartment, you have to pay a ridiculous amount of money. How much open space do you really need? You will be better off if you just need room to sleep and house all your crap. The Chinese are not Japanese, but they have some experience with finding storage space in the least likely places. If you need a living room large enough to host parties, two bedrooms, a full kitchen, dining room, a den/office and some kind of outdoor space, all for under US$6,000 a month, maybe Hong Kong is not for you. If you can be comfortable in something the size of a college dorm, you will be ok. If you have to have a large space, the obvious option is roommates. There are more than enough people looking for a place.

Kitchens are not especially popular in Hong Kong, partly because they take up space and partly because most people eat out all the time. If you live in a tiny box, you want to get out as often as possible. No matter where you live, the less you cook in your apartment, the less garbage and fewer insects you have to deal with. When you eat out, someone else gets to clean up.

“But I’m clean.” Great. How clean are your neighbors? Even if you are full OCD, there will be creatures living with you. Maybe not roaches and rats, but ants and spiders are to Hong Kong what shootings are to the United States.

Like any large city, restaurants in Hong Kong come in all shapes and prices. Tourists mostly eat at the most expensive restaurants and leave thinking that Hong Kong is an expensive city. If you live here, you will want to eat like the locals, who can easily get a full meal for less than US$2. As a general rule, if the place is full of foreigners, it will be more expensive. If it is full of locals, it is most likely cheaper and more authentic. The best news is that the most authentic food can be found in almost every neighborhood. Chinese cities do not segregate rich neighborhoods from poor. You can always find something dirt cheap right next to a Michelin-starred restaurant. In fact, Hong Kong has the least expensive restaurant with a Michelin star in the world. The taco place across the street is far more expensive.

If you have a kitchen, there are plenty of grocery stores throughout the city. Like everything else, they vary in price. A store like CitySuper, with lots of imported food and English all over the place, is going to be far more expensive than something like ParknShop or Wellcome, which are more expensive than 759 and pretty much any place with only a Chinese name. The more English you see, the higher the price. The deeper you go into Chinese, the lower.

An exception to the rule are convenience stores like 7-11 or OK (Circle K). They are mostly Chinese, but far from inexpensive. Like everywhere else in the world, you pay for the convenience of their million locations and opening hours.

I’ve heard that the price of apartments changes based on your skin color. When we found our apartment we looked around with and without a Chinese friend to help us. The prices seemed lower with the Chinese friend. I would say it is always best to bring along someone Chinese.

There’s a website that tells you the cost of living in whatever city. The one for Hong Kong does not match my experience. Most of the prices seem too high, especially the food. The rent prices seem too low.

Hong Kong is a large city with an extreme amount of variety. I don’t think there is any such thing as an average price here. Anyone can eat cheaply in Hong Kong, but if you want to live cheaply, you will need to live away from the most popular sights.

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