Hong Kong ranks as the third most expensive location in Asia for expat workers

As for the global scale, this administrative region remains at the sixth spot

The Cost of Living survey recently published by ECA International ranked Hong Kong as the third most expensive location in Asia to reside in as an expatriate worker, falling behind Ashgabat and Tokyo. Meanwhile, it remained at the sixth spot in comparison with other areas around the globe.

Lee Quane, Regional Director – Asia for ECA International, said that Hong Kong’s standing across the globe has remained stable in the past year “despite the ongoing socio-political upheavals and the fact that the economy is in recession.” He said that they have not yet seen any impact on the cost of living.

On the other hand, the robust performance of the Japanese yen bumped Tokyo higher, overtaking Hong Kong in this year’s ranking.

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“We expect prices in Japan to increase further owing to the recent increase in consumption tax while next year’s Olympics in Tokyo are likely to have further inflationary effects. As such, we expect Tokyo to remain above Hong Kong into 2020,” added Quane.

In mainland China, most cities have fallen short in the rankings, prompted by the weakening yuan currency.

“While rising pork prices have pushed up costs for many Chinese households in the past 12 months, the impact on the cost of living for expatriates in Chinese cities versus their peers elsewhere has been limited as pork tends to be less popular among most expatriates and because of the weakness of the currency,” he added.

Macau moves further up the ladder from the 25th spot in 2018 to 18th this year, while Taipei settled in the 31st place.