Hong Kong - the Ninth Most Expensive Place to Live

It's a wet, wet, week in Hong Kong. I have been patiently waiting to see the "No Need to Go to Office" weather advisory just before heading for showers but so far, nothing happened. Here, with too much rain, dangers of landslips is imminent. Therefore the government is careful not to put its workforce in peril and as a worker, you get the chance to stay home until the advisory is lifted. Back in Davao, rainy day means bad news to our little store in the public market as fewer people come. Remembering those times makes me miss my father more.

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Good news, Hong Kong's cost of living as dropped compared to last year. Bad news, it's still among the top ten most expensive places to live in the world. From number 5, Hong Kong is now at number 9. The ranking is topped by two Japanese cities, Tokyo and Osaka. The ranking is based on cost of housing, public and private transport, food and entertainment, among others..

1. Tokyo, Japan
2. Osaka, Japan
3. London, England
4. Moscow, Russia
5. Seoul, South Korea
6. Geneva, Switzerland
7. Zurich, Switzerland
8. Copenhagen, Denmark
9. Hong Kong, Hong Kong
10. Oslo, Norway

As the economy improves, prices of property also skyrockets. I have read newspapers about shop owners closing shop not because of poor business but because of landlords who raise monthly rentals by an unexplainable 60% or 100%. One example was the egg tart shop where former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten gets his ample supply.

As property prices are becoming important indicators, property owners have become more unscrupulous, taking every opportunity very seriously. After all, good times don't last forever. These are the same owners who practically begged shops to stay by lowering their monthly rents just to have income derived from these properties. Now it's the shop owners who get the boot if they can't keep up with the rising costs of maintaining a shop.

That's the price of Hong Kong, the world's ninth most expensive city to dwell.