[Poll] Stay or Leave Hong Kong

[TheBrit]

We’re leaving next year-after 8 years in 852- with primary aged children to Singapore. So many families in my circles don’t want to have their children grow up long term here, Singapore offers a much better quality of life all across the board.

Yeah - it's hard to know if that will still be the case in 10 years time - so much can change so quickly - but here and now on a purely objective view I think you are right. The main downside of Singapore for me is the climate, but apart from that it offers many of the upsides of Hong Kong (low taxes, safety, good public transport, great airport) without some of the worst downsides (rubbish housing, increasing mainland integration, abysmal political system).

[er2]

Main downside for us is as a trailing spouse I think it's quite challenging to get a work visa in Singapore or start a business? HK is so convenient in that regard. I'd worry about becoming a stay at home parent as my job here doesn't have a Singapore office...

It is possible though not as straightforward as HK. You get a 'Letter of Consent' which allows you to work, however, if your spouse loses his job (and thus drops from EP to Social Visit Pass) your LoC becomes invalid. One of my staff is in this situation right now. Not fun.

[bdw]

He could come to Japan and get loans even cheaper

Plenty of banks offer fixed rates below 1% for 10 years, and just over 1% fixed for 30 years. If you want to load up on cheap debt, can't be many better places.

I love Japan and would go back there in an instant for the food, fresh air, friendly people, etc. Not sure about the loans though, don't the banks turn away non-Japanese, even if you live there with an alien card and a good job? Or has the situation improved in the last 10 years since I was living there?

Also now in HK you can get multi currency loans. Standard Chartered offer JPY loans with 1% interest rate to HK residents earning HKD income, with the flexibility to switch the currency of the loan between HKD/JPY and a bunch of other currencies anytime you want using online banking. I have parked a lot of my debt in JPY now to enjoy this low 1% rate. So I still think HK is hard to beat financially!

[er2]

Original Post Deleted

You forgot the 'have just left' option. At least a number of posters seem to be in this boat.
For me, not being constrained by kids/education etc yet, the core driver was 'jobs' - HK is just a shitty place for anything tech related. Anything tech related happens north of the border, which isn't an option for a variety of reasons. Singapore does this massively better.

Will be back at some point though. After 10+ years, it has become home to me.

[TheBrit]

Not sure about the loans though, don't the banks turn away non-Japanese, even if you live there with an alien card and a good job? Or has the situation improved in the last 10 years since I was living there? !

Some banks are like this, but there are plenty who are keener to lend to foreigners. Nobody I work with has had any issue getting loans, and I've been offered by my bank even though I don't want to buy another property here. (Prestia, ex-Citibank).

[Mat]

abysmal political system).

Lol on that one.

[shri]

Lol on that one.

There is an amount of truth in it though. And as a city state, certainly more multicultural than HK (politics).

[hullexile]

Original Post Deleted

Have I been downgraded from platinum?

[Mat]

There is an amount of truth in it though. And as a city state, certainly more multicultural than HK (politics).

Mulit cultural yes. Political system is far far from great. Point is SGP does better than HK on some stuff (Pollution, housing etc) - I wouldn't have use politics as a comparison point, both are pretty bad in my view (HK and SGP).

[freeier]

The main downside of Singapore for me is the climate, but apart from that it offers many of the upsides of Hong Kong (low taxes, safety, good public transport, great airport) without some of the worst downsides (rubbish housing, increasing mainland integration, abysmal political system).

Perception is one thing, but actually..
Taxes in singapore is no longer low, you have income tax that's almost equivalent with hk, but also a 7~9% GST on consumption. Utilities like electricity/water, which we usually write off as cheap, is expensive like hell in Sg.
Transport, if you use Uber/Grab extensively, is arguably better than hk, but trust me the MRT and Buses are really not that impressive.