Im planning to move to Taipei from Japan to teach English. What is the average monthly rental for a half decent apartment? I now live in a wardrobe and feel the need for something a little more spacious…ive no i dea what a ping is either…
Thanks for your help
Average rents can vary greatly, depending on where you want to live. In Taipei City, you can get a pretty nice place for maybe NT$20,000-NT$25,000 (assuming you’re not talking about a room in a shared flat). If this is in an “upscale” area (ha ha) e.g. in the east end, this’ll get you a studio. If you’re in a less fancy area, say, Shida area, you should get anything between 30-40 pings, which is plenty of room to swing a cat.
If you move further out, rents come way down, but you’re not so much in the thick of things, as it were – I live in Bitan, which is about as far out as you can get without being a neighbour of Holger’s and I pay NT$17,000 for a semi-detached house of about 70-80 pings, including a big yard and a rooftop, within 2 minutes walk of the mountains and five minutes of the MRT (metro). To me, the additional travel time needed to get to work is a negligible price to pay.
So you see, you have a lot of choice.
A ping is roughly the size of one tatami mat.
Here is a list of conversions:
I pay 11 for a three room rooftop with a pretty big yard. It’s a little cheaper once you cross that bridge.
I believe one ping is 3.3 square metres. (please correct me if I’m wrong). It is the standard way for measuring the size of apartments in Taiwan.
I think you’re correct. Anyway, I was always told it is roughly the size of two standard-size tatami mats.