Taiwan is now the 10th most expensive place to send expat employees

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
81

Yes; Location, location, location, so quite difficult to generalise for a whole city

1 Like
82

Well, in the not-so-distant past Tianmu was known as a high-rent area, and still is somewhat compared to other places that far from the city center. Downtown is where it’s really getting out of control these days, though, in terms of rents.

3 Likes
83

I mean the property prices.

84

The great majority of expats will be in the rental market for these sort of work assignments being discussed here

2 Likes
85

Yeah, purchasing doesn’t really make sense for an expat (in Taipei, anyway…not sure about elsewhere in Taiwan) unless you’re marrying a local whose family expects it. I mean, I live in a thousand dollar a month apartment that’s probably worth close to a million (which would put it near the average for both categories on the Numbeo chart, for what it’s worth). There’s no way to make the math work for purchasing at that ratio.

3 Likes
86

I’ve never seen a flat go for $1000/m anywhere in greater Taipei. Only car lots.

87

USD, silly, not NTD.

3 Likes
88

I don’t think any landlords accept US Dollars.

2 Likes
89

Sure they do. All over the world! If for some reason they won’t, banks will convert it for you when you make the transfer to your landlord’s account. It’s amazing what global finance can do these days. More importantly, though, there are at least three contextual clues you could have used to know I meant $ and not NT$:

  1. This thread is a discussion about expats, among expats, comparing costs of various cities around the globe. The USD is the most commonly used currency (and certainly the most commonly used “dollar”) for comparing costs internationally. NTD isn’t recognized or used outside of this small island.

  2. We were discussing a chart posted by an earlier poster, which makes the comparison using USD.

  3. It would be ridiculous for anyone to say an apartment in Taipei could have a rental price of 30 bucks a month or a purchase price of $30k, and even more ridiculous to say that is near the average.

I teach these sorts of things to teenagers who are reading and interpreting things, because their frontal lobes aren’t fully developed yet. I didn’t expect to need to do it here, but there ya go-- Free lesson for you!

4 Likes
90

Using US Dollars with a fluctuating exchange rate to talk about Taiwanese flats when no landlord here accepts US dollars is confusing, especially for those who live here and do not speak in US dollars. Not only that, it immediately dates itself once the exchange rate changes by a significant amount.

I have no idea what teenagers have to do with this.

91

We’re talking about global housing prices. It’s strongly hinted at right there in the subject line, and clearly explained shortly after that. Also, this is an English-speaking community in Taiwan, meaning we tend to discuss things in international terms in general, which means using the US Dollar to compare. (You’re a moderator here, no?) What teenagers have to do with it is that they tend to think in very literal terms, missing contextual clues as you appeared to, because the frontal lobe is still developing until roughly age 25 or so and they are still learning critical thinking skills.

3 Likes
92

We’re primarily talking about Taiwan in this topic.

Shouldn’t people who live in Taiwan use the price of the local currency? In all my years in Canada, I had never heard of a single person refer to things in the US dollar when talking about local housing prices, regardless of if they were comparing outside or not. If a price in US dollars was needed, like shopping on a US site, then one would usually make note they’re using US dollars as opposed to the Canadian Dollar or the Taiwanese Dollar because it’s expected to use US Dollars on a US shopping site. Why not just put $1000 US or something?

I came to Taiwan, when I talk about Taiwanese things to other people living in Taiwan, I use Taiwanese dollars. Simple, no confusion.

Is that relevant?

So it’s an insult.

1 Like
93

Nah. It’s not high-end, but I’ve seen expats in worse.

3 Likes
94

Just because you are an expat doesn’t mean you would have been living it up in your home country. So I think it’s a fair comparison.

95

The topic is aimed at SENDING employees, so we need to keep in mind what sort of places would be considered attractive as part of an expat package (together with salary, school, home- visits, nannies, drivers and whatever else) by the sort of middle/ senior employees that a company is aiming to persuade.

3 Likes