Me & husband have received an offer to go and work in HK, restaurant business. The thing is we dont know anything about living in HK at all, in terms of cost of living.

Have any of you ever lived in HK recently? For example. with USD 5500-6000/month, how far will we go? We have to pay our own accomodation, medical, and everything else. We are not looking for a luxurious life, but descent enough, 2 bedrooms apt, eat out from time to time, etc..

Thanks guys, any advice will help

send sal a pm - he has spent time there.

Hong Kong is expensive for both living and a social life, if the 5K is covering 2 people then sorry to say but you'll not find it easy at all , HK used to be packed with expats but these days more and more are moving into china which is where a lot of business is moving, a lot of asians various nationalities have been moving into HK, i travel 3 / 4 times a year on business and have seen a bit of a difference this year meaning higher prices, more crowded with asians rather than expats.

Yes phoenix, my friend also said so..sigh, brightbear, who's sal? Still want to find out more. Thanks

Really depends on what you live like now. That being said $5-6k ain't a lot in HKG. Put it this way...........for a really nice three bedroom apartment you can easily spend $5k US a month, that is not necessarily with a voew, nor in that great a neighborhood (we're definately not talking about the peak, nor Repulse Bay). You could get some liveable stuff for maybe $2,500 a month in an older building in midlevels. After that things are actually not super pricey. Transportation is reasonable and efficiant and food prices are at all levels. Taxes are also a flat 15%, often compensated by employers with a 13th month bonus. Privat schools are super pricey, however unlike Turkey you actually could have a go of certain public schools there as there are a few decent ones. Social life can be very expensive and if you just go to Gwai Lo places, your not going to be able to afford anything.

Hi Im Sal and have lived in Hong Kong albeit a while back but travel there frequently .

Hong Kong is still very expensive and you would struggle to have a good standard of living for 2 on that kind of money , recently an expat has recently moved from Turkey to HongKong and works as an executive chef at one of the fancy hotels , we could probably get you a few up to date info.

Contact me via PM if you need anything further

Thanks all for the input. I have also asked questions at the HK expat forum and have gotten some ideas by now. Seems like the money is ok but not exactly grand. We`ll see.

the value of money is subjective; depends upon what kind of experience are u after...
dont go if you're after the money, I'd say
but do go if you wanna watch a rapid growth... and be where the next big nation develops into a major power.

Hi Nona!

before we moved here in Turkey, we were living and working in HK.

Flat rentals can be expensive. Night life is great. Shopping is everywhere. Cost of living is slightly higher than Istanbul.

PM if you need more info.

I lived in Hong Kong and travel there once or twice a year. You would be extremely lucky to find US$2,500 rent in the Midlevels anywhere and on the areas where most expats live on the island of Hong Kong. Pehaps you may want to look in Kowloon and just take the MTR to Hong Kong if you have to go there for work. There are good areas in Cleawater Bay, Sai Kung, etc. I would think you would work wtih a relocation agency so that you will have all the info you need before you commit.
FYI, ten years ago, the rents in Midlevels/Peak/Repulse Bay/Stanley, etc. were already in the region of US4,000 for a 3 bedroom flat.

I also have a brother who recently moved there. His family of 4 are able to make it with double income and relatively reasonable mortage (they opted to buy since his wife's employer/company is partly paying their morgage with what is essentially rent subsidy in her expat package) but their kids are going to be in public school (transferring from one of the best private schools in Manila) for the first time. They were able to find a decent public school (with instruction in English) but it's a newly-opened school in the residental complex near the airport they bought their flat in. The flats are 80% owned by expats mostly working in the airline/aviation industry there so a school opened there but I think that's a rare case.

I was there at the beginning of this year. It cost a ton of money to go out if you want to go out in major shopping/dining areas particularly in Cental. Stay away from Landmark unless you win the Lotto between now and when you actually go there.

Best wishes.