Macau: 15th on the list of highest cost of living cities in the World?

Ponto Final Newspaper.  6 July 2020.

Is Macau one of the most expensive cities to live in, in the World?  This was a question posed by Portuguese-language newspaper Ponto Final, of Ambiente Properties’ managing director Suzanne Watkinson. 

For the full article, in Portuguese, see the following link:

Macau é a 15ª cidade mais cara do mundo para expatriados

Translated from Portuguese to English by Google Translate

With an increase of ten positions, Macau now occupies the 15th place in the world ranking of cities where the cost of living for workers from outside is higher. In the Asian ranking, Macau ranks eighth after overtaking cities like Seoul and Shanghai. Globally, Hong Kong has fallen to sixth place in the cities with the highest cost of living for foreign workers while the Turkmen capital, Asgabate, remains in first place on the list drawn up by the consulting firm ECA International.  

Macau climbed ten places in the ranking of the world’s cities with the highest cost of living for workers from outside, where it ranks 15th. At the Asian level, Macau is the eighth most expensive city for foreign workers after overtaking Seoul and Shanghai. The survey carried out by the consulting firm ECA International was based on data collected between March 2019 and March 2020. Despite the results presented by ECA International, the survey did not take into account income expenses and expenses with electricity, gas, water or car. For Suzanne Watkinson, administrative director of the real estate and consulting agency, Ambiente Properties, the cost of living in the territory does not reflect Macau’s position on this list. “If we take into account the cost of living here, I am surprised by the position of Macau in the eighth place in the cities in Asia most expensive for foreign residents,” Suzanne Watkinson started by saying FINAL POINT. Living in Macau for more than a decade, Watkinson noted a rise in restaurant prices, as one of the aspects influencing the survey. “Utilities are not expensive, clothes are not expensive either. Schools here are no more expensive than other international schools like in Hong Kong. Perhaps eating out has become more expensive. For example, we may have to spend around 500 patacas per person at a restaurant in Old Taipa, when in the past you paid 500 patacas for two people. In this respect, I can point out that eating out has become more expensive in the last year ”, added the British citizen resident in Macau.

One of the factors used by ECA International researchers to calculate the cost of living in Macau was the expenditure on basic food items. “Where I noticed an increase was in the prices of products from the supermarket. In recent months it has been well known that the prices of vegetables and fruit and other consumer goods have increased compared to Hong Kong ”, said Glenn McCartney, professor at the University of Macau (UMAC), adding with a concrete example. “In the last week, the price of strawberries in a supermarket has gone from 15 to 22 patacas, an increase of seven patacas. I really felt an increase in the price of food ”. Regarding school expenses and household income, Glenn McCartney stressed that there are two important factors, in the life of an expatriate, that should be part of the survey, as they have a real impact on people’s cost of living. “One of the factors that we have to take into account is that the majority of expatriates have a monthly expense with their children in international schools. For non-residents, the expenditure of international schools has an enormous weight on the household budget. When we add all these expenses together and have a total, perhaps the argument that Macau is the eighth most expensive city in Asia for expatriates may even make some sense ”, defended Glenn McCartney. “However, there is another particular area where I felt some differences, namely in the electricity and gas bill. My electricity bill was quite substantial. Although the Government has insured these bills for a few months, when I received the electricity, gas and water bill last month, I felt some differences ”, said the UMAC professor, on other expenses that did not count for the survey, but that have a impact on real life.

Real estate market without demand The impact of the pandemic on the real estate market was significant, but it did not count for the elaboration of the survey that placed Macau in the 15th position of the most expensive cities in the world for expatriates. With extensive experience in the Macau real estate market, Suzanne Watkinson refused to speak of a crisis in the sector, but admitted some difficulties after the departure of several non-resident workers from the territory. “We noticed a slowdown in residential rents and the reason for this has to do with the dismissal of workers with Blue Cards, the uncertainty in relation to some non-permanent residents, in the sense of not knowing whether they will be approved to remain here. Many older foreign workers have lost their jobs or been forced on unpaid leave, “said the managing director of the real estate and consulting agency, Ambiente Properties, adding that,” many of these workers have been asking for help in finding a smaller house. ” “In this context, I can say that there are more apartments available, so the supply increased, the demand decreased, which led to this slowdown in rents”, considered the specialist. In the opinion of Suzanne Watkinson, the big question that must be asked now is who will occupy the empty houses in the future. “Rental prices are lower, so I cannot understand this position in the ranking of the most expensive cities in Asia. Perhaps the statistics are based on last year’s figures, but with the pandemic and this global economic uncertainty, plus the departure of non-resident workers, as was the case with the House of Dancing Water show, where almost 100 people were fired , all of these non-resident Blue Card workers lived somewhere. Even if they shared apartments, now they will have to leave. That is why we have empty houses, which led to a reduction in prices. And who is going to replace these people? That is the question for a million dollars. Because at this time nobody can come. Perhaps I have lived in Asia for many years, I lived in Hong Kong and now I have been in Macau for a long time, and I look at these prices and I think the cost of living is quite reasonable ” she concluded.