Expat Housing/Schooling Allowances

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  1. #11

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    Oh they do (or at least the one who brought me to Hong Kong did). When I arrived the global relo consultants were claiming that as a single guy in my position (which wasn't that senior - just running a US$150M business unit, not heading the region or anything) I should have a housing allowance of HK$90K per month. The local HR just laughed that out of court (and, frankly, I agreed) and we quite happily settled on $50K per month.


  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    Oh they do (or at least the one who brought me to Hong Kong did). When I arrived the global relo consultants were claiming that as a single guy in my position (which wasn't that senior - just running a US$150M business unit, not heading the region or anything) I should have a housing allowance of HK$90K per month. The local HR just laughed that out of court (and, frankly, I agreed) and we quite happily settled on $50K per month.
    Now your in my range! Anything above we pay ourselves. And my company consulted on the housing allowance and the cost of living increase.

  3. #13

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    You all are great! I can't thank you enough for your responses. I just can't help but wonder how all those expats can afford to live in Repulse Bay with families.....If many of them only get housing allowances of HKD70k to HKD80k do you think they actually pay another HKD 30k out of their own pocket?


  4. #14

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    Er, because they have salaries of well over $100K, plus Cost Of Living Allowances, plus school fees paid, plus, plus...

    When I first can here in a upper-mid-level position for a multinational the total cash the company paid out each month was well in excess of HK$200K per month (with another few hundred thou one-off for moving) and that was for a single guy. This was nothing special - the guys in the banks and so on who live at The Peak have packages in which their companies are paying out HK$500K per month or more, and there aren't just one or two of them - there are at least several hundred people in that position.


  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by BESA:
    You all are great! I can't thank you enough for your responses. I just can't help but wonder how all those expats can afford to live in Repulse Bay with families.....If many of them only get housing allowances of HKD70k to HKD80k do you think they actually pay another HKD 30k out of their own pocket?

    Besides not all the places in Repulse Bay are over $100K per month. We had a housing allowance of $75k / month and we wanted a furnished place (so a portion of that amount was going to go on furniture rental....which was a mistake in retrospect). Anyway, so given a budget of $55-60k we saw some great 3bdrm places in Repulse bay and Shusan Hill (about 1800 sq ft, with sea view private gardens ,etc.) even many low-rise villas (with only 4 units to a building). The property relo compnay told us that most listed prices are negotiable and so you don't always pay what's listed. If you have someone knowledgable doing the negotiation, you can probably get more place for your money. Just my 2 cents.

    I'm attaching a listing of properties they sent us in October 2006....on the last few pages you'll see some stuff from Repulse Bay and Tai Tam....just to get an idea.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  6. #16

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    Here is an interesting Bloomberg article from today talking about the International Schools in HK.


  7. #17

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    wow--how encouraging! just kidding....but seriously, that Bloomberg article is a big wake-up call--I need to make school the priority! Thank you also for the list of apartments, I will check them out. There are just so many options....whether it be the Peak or Mid Levels or the South side... which at this point is a good thing! Your insight from your experiences and others, is very helpul to me and I can't thank you enough for the information you have shared. With respects to the other expats do you know if majority of the wives work?


  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by BESA:
    With respects to the other expats do you know if majority of the wives work?
    You might wish to reconsider that question given that a substantial proportion of expats (particularly in the education field) are female.

    But for the wives of the rich bankers my impression is that most of them do the best they can to spend the incredible amounts of money their husband is being given with fancy lunches, personal trainers, personal tennis coaches, etc etc.

    But I'm generalising wildly.

  9. #19

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    tai-tais

    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    You might wish to reconsider that question given that a substantial proportion of expats (particularly in the education field) are female.

    But for the wives of the rich bankers my impression is that most of them do the best they can to spend the incredible amounts of money their husband is being given with fancy lunches, personal trainers, personal tennis coaches, etc etc.

    But I'm generalising wildly.
    Hahaha! Good one! But judging by the numerous meet up threads by the wife/gfs under meet & greet, u can't b too far from the truth!

  10. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by kaisershozhay:
    Hahaha! Good one! But judging by the numerous meet up threads by the wife/gfs under meet & greet, u can't b too far from the truth!
    Whatever. Many expat women, including wives of well paid bankers, work, and not just in the education field. Just because you meet up with a group of women for lunch does NOT mean you don't have a job.