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| 108th Floor of International Commerce Centre |
I live here so I'm biased, but it makes sense that expats want to move and live here despite the high costs (highest in the world according to this article).
As one of the expats says in the article: you're surrounded by keen and driven people. It's a place of great energy. Outside of work there's plenty to do, from hiking in the many country parks right in our doorstep, to sailing, tennis, swimming, at one of the many clubs in the city.
For me it was first a place where I learned Mandarin, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, then in the Australian government in the seventies and eighties. I was with a multinational company (DFS) then government again (Austrade), in the nineties before setting up our company in the oughts (Wall Street Institute). Selling that company gave us our permanent stake in Hong Kong.
Thing is: if you have your accommodation, HK is not that expensive. Local public transport is the best in the world and is very cheap; food is cheap if you're not after cheese and fois gras; clothes are cheap if you're not after Gucci. In short you can eat, dress and get around cheaply, as long as you have your accommodation. Granted that's tough: the highest real estate prices in the world. (Despite a 15% drop second half '18).
We've done a bit of everything here — government, private sector and our own company; swimming, sailing, scuba… — and have come to love Hong Kong and call it home.
So it's pleasing to see it still has its international allure, despite being 46 places below Singapore according to one "liveability" survey.
Give me Hongkers any day…
