Posted by
roym
15 yrs ago
I am based in the UK and have been offered a job in Hong Kong and am trying to get a sense of the cost of living. How much can I expect it to cost per month for a family of four to live in Hong Kong after taxes, rent and school fees have all been paid? We have two children aged 10 and 7.
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roym
15 yrs ago
Tks cara. If I have 45-50,000 HKD in hand after rent, school fees and taxes have all been paid, can I live comfortably with my wife and two kids in HK?
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Rent and food are the big things (also Pollution but that's another topic), you can live in a lot of ways and to a lot of budgets in Hong Kong. If you are making a "finance" type income and are anything like my wealthier friends then you will probably "need" to spend $50-100k HK per month for rent. But I have friends with kids living on more normal incomes, teachers, small business owners, journalists, academics etc who manage fine in Hong Kong and carve out luxurious lives in some of the more rural areas.
The funny thing about HK is how many possible life styles there are to choose from in a small geographic area. On Hong kong Island the smartest people I know with kids seem to all be French or Spanish, they often choose Big Wave Bay village or Shek O to live and always seem to have a lovely family life living a bus ride from from downtown but in a safe and quaint beach village.
Some friends with kids live at the Pok Fu Lam end of HK, the air is cleaner (a bit more breeze and a bit less traffic), but it is very close to the "downtown districts.
With the living budget you talk of you can jump in a taxi as often as you like and visit any of the 50+ beaches of Hong Kong Island or the bays, coves and parks of the New Territories or outlining Islands.
Other friends with kids went for Discovery Bay, the Marmite of property developments.
If you want to step out of a luxury mid-levels high rise with it's own pool and gym and be at work in 5 minutes you can, or you can live in village house near a beach with docile water buffalo walking past your kitchen window every morning, the choice is very broad for a small place.
Other secret about Hong Kong is that it is a great outdoor and sports town. From the junks trips and sailing to kite surfing, rock climbing, wake boarding, surfing, hiking, adventure racing, canoeing, windsurfing, mountain biking, horse riding, motocross, camping, football, rugby, cricket, hockey, basketball, tennis, squash, ultimate, etc etc plus the amazingly great ski conditions in Japan. Oh and school are not bad either.
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Remember to factor in the best expense of living in HK- domestic help, very good value, can be very good. I don't know if your wife works or wants to start working again but as a dependent she has more work visa freedom than you, she can automatically work for whoever she can get a job with or start her own business. Hong Kong is still a place to catch a break with your career, so is also a good place to catch a break with restarting your career after having children especially when you factor the low cost of full time child care/cleaning/cooking etc combined with the low taexs and a regional economic growth rate that mocks the rest of the world's financial woes.
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roym
15 yrs ago
Thanks very much. This is all very helpful. There seem to be a lot more options than I'd imagined in terms of areas to live. Two more questions:
1. If one wanted to live close to work in the downtown, can one find an acceptable apartment to rent for 60-65,000 HKD for a family of four?
2. How much does one pay for domestic help in HK?
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"Most foreigners like to live in the islands such as Mui Wo, Lantau Island "
We do?
"1. If one wanted to live close to work in the downtown, can one find an acceptable apartment to rent for 60-65,000 HKD for a family of four?"
Sure. Happy Valley, Midlevels, Shouson Hill, Kennedy Town, Pok Fu Lam. Note that "close to downtown" in my opinion covers most of the Island. HK Island is SMALL.
"2. How much does one pay for domestic help in HK?"
Minimum wage is $3580/mth plus food allowance of $740/mth plus various costs like insurance and trips home.
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Hello RoyM. congratulations on the job offer!
To give you a better idea of the cost of living here, we are a family of 4- me, husband and 2 kids, 7 and 2.
Our place is 1500sqf and costs 40t/month in a nice and quiet neighbourhood in hk island, and car park costs 2,500/mo. My older son goes to an ESF school (you've prob looked that one up
already) and his school fees are approximately 9-10t/month.
Our actual elec bill ranges from 800-1000 a mont. All in all, our utilities, including gas, water, cable tv probably sets us back around 2500-3000, food shopping about 1500/week which includes nap pies and milk.
If you're planning to buy a car, the 2nd hand market is very very good. However, the annual dues are very expensive! I think we spent about 10-12t the last time we registered it. Petrol is approximately same as UK.
My husband and I enjoy going out regularly. Obviously, depending on where you go, dinner can cost you anywhere between 100-1000 per head. We normally spend about 600 for a decent meal (for both of us).
As a family, we don't really spend a lot when going out because we like to spend our weekends and holidays at the beach, hiking, and we have annual pass cards to Ocean Park ( our kids love it there).
Hope this helps :)
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For the car, I would add that place is small it is doubtful you'll drive anywhere near as much as in the UK. So petrol expenses tend to be rather low comparatively.
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Car are a little pointless in Hong Kong unless you are going to live in the sticks.
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It really depends on the commute, kids' school runs, etc. Then again if you only need a car every now and then taxis are probably cheaper.
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sxc
15 yrs ago
If you want to get an idea of the price of groceries in HK, then check out the online shopping pages of www.wellcome.com.hk and www.parknshop.com
The main grocery expenses will be meat, cheese, vegetables...but interestingly for you, there is a wide range of prices for these. If you buy the local versions, then the price is quite cheap. If you shop at the specialist supermarkets that import everything, then you will find meat particularly expensive (eg starting from $HK 150/kg for Australian beef). For an idea of the prices of these imported things, check out www.pacificgourmet.com.hk
Also, anything considered "foreign", which is probably what you would thing is "normal" is going to be pricier. Some points of comparison: M&S yoghurt is HK22. M&S frozen quiche HK55.
So if you are able to adapt your habits to be a bit more "local" then your grocery bill can be quite moderate.
As for eating out, as others have mentioned, you can eat at very good local restaurants for $200/head or less, and if you go to more "foreigner" targeted restaurants, then you are looking at $400+ per head. Assuming you don't go out on the piss since you have a family, then you won't have to pay for drinks in bars, but wine in restaurants start at $80/glass.
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You can easily get around the supermarket prices of imported meat and fish by using wholesalers. You'll get the same stuff for one third of the price or less.
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sxc
15 yrs ago
Any suggestions who/where? And do you need to buy bulk amounts?
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As cara says, the frozen meat shops are one good option. There's one on the corner of Matheson and Leighton Roads in CWB. No need to buy in bulk there.
Even cheaper is Leo's Fine Foods, which stocks both meat and fish. 2814 0302. Here, you do need to buy in bulk.
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roym
15 yrs ago
Thank you all, this is really a great help. Can anyone provide some info on the cost of dentists and orthodontists (for my daughter)? Is a root canal, for example, expensive?
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sxc
15 yrs ago
I go to Quality Healthcare medical centre in Admiralty and a clean and checkup is about $700. Not sure about a root canal. Dentistry and good healthcare in HK is quite expensive. Does your package include medical insurance?
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'good healthcare in Hk is quite expensive'
this is entirely untrue. HK has some of the finest, most technologically advanced public healthcare in the world. incredible low cost for the tax dollars we put into it...don't get suckered into 'going private', unless you need to for appearances sake...
let's not forget it was at a private hospital (Caritas, two years ago) where the son of a heart attack victim, who was dying on the doorstep of the hospital, was told to 'call 999' since the receptionist was too arsed to send a doctor out to save the poor man's life...but that's a whole other rant...
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Hi again Roy
As you can see from the above posts, lots of different view on what you need to "get by."
I figure anyone with sense to get on Asiaxpat to ask the question is probably the kind of person who will do fine in Hong Kong. Remember even if you came here on the same pay it's like getting a fat pay raise just from the low taxes.
On dentists choose very carefully, here like everywhere there are dentists padding the job, a great Ozzie dentist in HK told me some horror stories of unneeded expensive dental work, ha has even reported other dentists here for it. My wife went to one Expat dentist who told here she needed NINE fillings and further work to explore a possible root canal, the next dentist could nothing wrong with ANY of her teeth.
As for valid points from madtown about pension planning, expectations etc, sure if you are used to finding expensive things to do with your kids every weekend and eating out often at above average priced restaurants then Hong Kong will just as would the UK cut very quickly through whatever is left after fixed costs.
However, for the same money as a taxi trip to beach with your kids, a colourful meal in the local village or picnic, ice-creams, and surf board rental if you go to Big Wave Bay you would get as far as two Ginsters pies and a traffic jam on the A23 stuck behind an endless flow of people driving to Ikea to buy 2 light bulbs.
Go back to England once a year, get stuck into life here, make your family visit you while they have the chance, take your folks to Angkor Wat for the weekend when they come and visit you.
Hong Kong is possibly the easiest exotic place in the world to move to and live.
And if you seek the best of what can be had here it can often be a tropical island paradise.
And you won't spend your whole life doing kid taxi runs, the distances are smaller and the most exciting thing that will happen to your kids on bus here is some slightly bad driving, your kids will forget what a 'Hoodie' is.
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Top dentists and orthodentists are usually to be found in Price's Building in Central. All very well-trained and qualified - the local education system in HK churns out thousands of extremely bright, multi-lingualkids.
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I agree with madtown on both accounts, $45-50,000 won't go far. I LOVE HK but I HATE the bad air. Remember your children will be breathing in pure and utter filth..... it really is that bad! So think long and hard before you expose their young lungs to it. Do a search on the this site in regards to the air quality and you may want to reconsider HK as a destination to live and for that reason only sadly!
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Dear ALL,
I have been offered for a job in Hong kong.I'm from india working in middle east and having two small school going kids.
I have been offered 87000 HKD$ per month.
After House rent (say 20000 - 30000 HKD per month), how much i require for school fee, grocery, utilities, transport, everything...
Consider us as average shopping indian family ..
How much can i save at the end of the month.
Please reply asap...
regards
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