Shanghai 8th most expensive city to rent an apartment

http://www.eca-international.com/ASP/ViewArticle2.asp?ArticleID=189

Five of the top 10 most costly cities to rent globally are in Asia

Hong Kong is the world's most expensive city to rent accommodation and Asia accounts for five of the world's top ten most costly cities, according to a survey conducted by ECA International, the world's leading knowledge and solutions provider for international HR professionals...

Five of the top 10 most expensive locations in the world are in Asia, with Seoul (5th), Mumbai (7th) and Shanghai (8th) joining Hong Kong and Tokyo . New York, Moscow, London, Caracas and Paris make up the 10 most expensive cities globally to rent a three bedroom apartment.

High rental prices in Tokyo, New York, Seoul, Moscow, London and Paris largely reflect high living costs in these locations, while Mumbai, Shanghai and Beijing suffer from a shortage of modern, well equipped properties that meet expatriate standards, pushing prices up for those properties that do.

World’s most expensive locations to rent a three bedroom apartment

Rank Location Country
1 Hong Kong HONG KONG
2 Tokyo JAPAN
3 New York USA
4 Moscow RUSSIA
5 Seoul KOREA REPUBLIC
6 London UNITED KINGDOM
7 Mumbai INDIA
8 Shanghai CHINA
9 Caracas VENEZUELA
10 Paris FRANCE
11 Beijing CHINA
12 Ho Chi Minh City VIETNAM
13 Istanbul TURKEY
14 Dubai UAE
15 Singapore SINGAPORE

I don't know what they are using for statistics but our apartment (2 bedroom) in Shanghai is just over half the cost of what we were paying in Sydney. Our building is oldish (about 10 years old) and by Australian standards average or even below average but for local standards it is deemed unaffordable, 'huge' and luxurious. Sure if you want an expat apartment with all the mod-cons it does cost a packet in Shanghai. I have seen some of the ads and the prices are astronomical!

The Amazing Mr Fang

Our landlord is amazing. I think I have mentioned him before in regards to him paying our bills for us. Despite earning more money than us (I think) he rides a little electric bicycle everywhere and I give him our bills along with some money and he rides off into the distance to pay them all... water, gas, electricity, phone, everything. If change is required he puts it in an envelope and drops it into our letterbox. I try to let him keep the change before but he always refuses.

We've had trouble with our hot water heater ever since we moved into our apartment but it has steadily been getting worse. We can only have a hot shower for 2 mins before the hot water runs out and we need to press the button again to turn the heater on. We were so used to having cold showers during the summer months as this really didn't bother us at all.

However, now that the weather has changed (and will only get colder) we had to do something about it. So I called him and told him. The very next day he had someone deliver to us a brand new water heater! (costing 2400 RMB). It was supposed to be installed that day too (past Tuesday) but the guy couldn't make it so it was installed on Wednesday. While he and the installer guy were here I casually mentioned there is no hot water in the tap in the bathroom either (not really understanding how the plumbing works around here) and then within minutes he had a plumber guy come and fix something there too.

With a bit of bad timing, our ayi was in here too and in our tiny 2 bedroom apartment it was sheer mayhem and chaos.

The ayi commented to him about our washing machine being so slow and not washing properly. I have to admit I agreed and just put up with it. I didn't want to complain too much as he has already been such an angel to us doing so many things for us and not expecting anything in return.

However, imagine my shock when he rang me the next morning to say a new washing machine was on its way and was I going to be home. I said, no, unfortunately I'm just about to head out, could they bring it tomorrow (Friday) instead?

OK, so this morning he turned up with a brand new washing machine still in its box, with a guy to install it. As well as that, when he tried to use our phone the other day he noticed the line wasn't clear and brought us a new phone too (despite me not mentioning it at all either).

So... I think that by not complaining too much karma has worked out really well for us!!

Instead of taking 2 hours (and not doing a good job either) and being tiny, our new washing machine now takes 30mins and does a much better job and holds 3x as many clothes. Our hot water heater has a digital thermometer on the front where we can adjust the temperature, and a cute little showerhead logo pops up whenever the shower is being used. How cool!

Mr Fang is the best! :D