Well yeah, I wouldn’t expect to find anything decent for under NT20,000 in Taipei, just as I wouldn’t expect to find anything decent for under $630 (the USD equivalent) in a major American city. Housing may be cheap here, but it’s not that cheap. This is Taiwan, not a third world country like Thailand or Vietnam.
I don’t think it’s true at all that “most” housing here is “quartered off shit boxes,” though. I don’t know anyone who lives in those places, and haven’t even seen them other than the photos in this thread. If my budget were that low, I would rather choose to share a decent 3 br / 2 bath place (which are plentiful here) with two other people than to have a sketchy shoebox all to myself.
I pay RMB4600 + bills (another 2-300). Earn RMB22300.
Works out to 20% of my salary.
It’s small, but big enough. No real view t o speak of, but on the second floor which I like.
When I lived in Taiwan I shared a nice four bedroom place - was NT15000/2 plus bills. One room for me, one for my matey, one as the office, one as the gym and storage room.
Very affordable. That was in Taichung, ten years ago.
20,000 NT is a good portion of working class locals’ salaries, which is why they tend to live together in family groups (e.g. unmarried people in their 30’s still living with their parents). If 20,000 NT ($630 USD) a month is a good portion of your salary as an expat from the west, I would question why you came here expecting your own nice apartment. I would tend to assume anyone moving to a major global city in a relatively wealthy/developed nation on that low of an income would be prepared to live with roommates on a shoestring budget.
By “working class” do you mean blue collar or people who work for a living? Even for many white collar professionals, 20,000 is a good chunk of their salaries.[quote=“ThaiJuan, post:45, topic:156194”]
If 20,000 NT ($630 USD) a month is a good portion of your salary as an expat from the west, I would question why you came here expecting your own nice apartment. I would tend to assume anyone moving to a major global city in a relatively wealthy/developed nation on that low of an income would be prepared to live with roommates on a shoestring budget.
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By “expat from the west” do you mean Westerners working here or people on expat packages? Most of the Westerners living in Taiwan aren’t on expat packages, and may find your post a little abrasive. You get points for calling Taipei a “major global city” though. Are you perhaps helping the government with its branding efforts?
TBH, 20k is a large portion of the population WHOLE salary. So that is how you get 6 people living together ina 2 bedroom: one person salary covers housing, another one food, other one baomu/day care, another one for medical/clothing and other miscellaneous expenses, one more you can pay school/high school fees, maybe even college.
Expats sent her from abroad do not have to pay housing: it is part of the package. Average foreign white collar workers salary is teachers 60k, office dwellers maybe 70k up to 160k.
[quote=“Dr_Milker, post:46, topic:156194, full:true”]
By “working class” do you mean blue collar or people who work for a living? [/quote]
I mean people to whom 600 bucks a month for housing is viewed as an insurmountable expense. I don’t mean anything negative toward them-- I used to be in that income category, myself. I certainly didn’t expect to be able to get a nice apartment all to myself in a nice city when I was, though. I knew I had to live in small towns or suburbs, or if I wanted to live in a nice city I had to have a small/old place, or if I wanted a nicer/larger place I had to get roommates.
[quote=“Dr_Milker, post:46, topic:156194, full:true”]
By “expat from the west” do you mean Westerners working here or people on expat packages? [/quote]
I mean Westerners working here-- I thought that was the definition of western expat. I don’t know what an “expat package” is.
Ha. Hardly. I’m just calling it as I see it. I see a city of several million people where most people are multilingual, many are educated abroad, education and healthcare are highly valued, mountains and beaches are nearby, great restaurants are everywhere, with every type of world cuisine, as are local coffee roasters, and a burgeoning craft beer scene. There is a “creative class” with a great art scene, a surprisingly strong local music scene (if you know where to find it), etc. Public transportation is top notch and direct flights are available to just about any major city in Asia or North America. It meets every criterion I could possibly think of for “major global city,” and with a cost of living lower than any other such place of which I’m aware. That’s why I live here. That’s why every expat I know here lives here. Otherwise, we’d live somewhere else-- Wouldn’t you?
The expats I know pay for their own housing, though part of their salary may be labeled as a “housing allowance,” depending on where they work. I’d say your salary numbers are way off for white collar professionals, though. It’s more like $150k-$250k for teachers and significantly more than that for tech and business world types. I’m talking about actual professionals with career-type positions, though-- not the “let’s have an adventure abroad!” twentysomethings who come to teach at buxibans for a few years after college and before starting a career. (No disrespect toward the latter group. I often wish I’d done the same at that age.)
$150k-$250k for teachers and significantly more than that for tech and business world types
That’s what they call an expat package, although I didn’t know there are teachers that get those kinds of deals.
“Significantly more than $250k” sounds like a really nice package even for tech and business type of work though. I assume that type of work would include management related tasks.
Ah, you mean the ones working at international schools. I know some that make much, but not that much. That is a sort of expat package. Anything that offers perks such as yearly tickets home and stuff like housing allowance is considered “expat”.
I know some engineers in local “international” companies making a lot less than your numbers. But yes, transnational companies are more competitive. Most foreigners I know on local salaries are on a more modest bracket. That is the difference.
But buxiban 20 somethings traveling and teaching are a species about to die here in Taiwan…
$250K NTD / month is $95K/year in USD-- not even six figures. That’s not a huge salary for tech or business by Westerner standards, though it is a good salary for teachers. Plenty of people make a LOT more than that. Who do you think is keeping all of the high-end clothing stores and BMW Dealerships in business in Taipei?
I don’t know anyone at international schools who gets a yearly ticket home. They do get housing allowances, technically, but it’s usually just thought of as part of the salary. I get the idea it only labeled as “housing allowance” by employers for tax purposes.
How do you figure that the 20-something traveling species is about to die? Who would take over the buxiban-type English teaching jobs? I realize there are some people who do that kind of work long-term, but they don’t appear to be the norm.
I’m not debating that those people exist, but if you go outside of the tech bubbles and places like NY, anything that is significantly more than $95k is a very good salary even in the US.
Who do you think is keeping all of the high-end clothing stores and BMW Dealerships in business in Taipei?
mostly the top 1% who usually don’t even have to work
some foreigners here might earn that kind of money thaijuan is talking about. but the vast majority are on way less, its not exactly a myth. most foreigners are teaching english and we know what the usual wage is.
i don’t think its crazy to question how people on this wage are getting decent places for 15-20% of their salary when good places lower than 20,000nt in taipei are really hard to come by.
By the way I’m not making those statistics up, I checked them before and very very few earn more than 100,000 ntd/mth salary let alone 200,000/mth salary.
See all those houses out there…the money is mostly from renting and trading property and land. Small island highly concentrated resource.
In the center of the island there’s a lot of under the table dodgy factory owner millionaires. That’s another story.