2017-March-23 Source: Newsgd.com
Filled with modern-designed skyscrapers and high-end boutiques, Zhujiang New Town, the CBD of Guangzhou, is an essential part of the hustle and bustle of the city life. Every morning, well-suited businessmen walk through the bustling crowd, whisk into their exquisite offices and start another busy day.
Marc Piesbergen, Executive Chamber Manager of German Chamber of Commerce in China - South and Southwest China, is one of them.
Undeniably, the living cost in such a heartland is inevitably high, since the city is developing in an extremely fast speed, However, Piesbergen admitted that the costs in Guangzhou are still more affordable comparing to Beijing, Shanghai ang Hong Kong. “The cost advantages in Guangzhou combined with its infrastructure and living-quality have a positive impact on German enterprises when considering to start investment here,” he said.
Zhujiang New Town, the CBD of Guangzhou [Photo\southcn.com]
According to the latest cost-of-living survey released on Tuesday, Guangzhou ranked 69th worldwide and proved to be Chinese most affordable metropolitan for expatriates comparing to Hong Kong , Shanghai and Beijing which ranked 2nd, 16th and 47th respectively.
The survey is conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit on an annual basis and compares prices of 160 goods and services as oil, transportation and housing cost in 133 cities around the world. It finds Singapore remains as the world's most expensive city for a fourth consecutive year while Almaty become the cheapest among all cities involved this year.
The housing cost is one of the survey’s indicators and usually a decisive one when considering the cost of living. According to the statistics, Guangzhou has the lowest housing price among all Chinese first-tier cities. Its average housing price is 16679 yuan/㎡ while the average prices in Beijing and Shanghai have both gone above 30000 yuan/㎡.
People in Guangzhou spend less on house rental as well. “Rent in Guangzhou is still relatively cheap in comparison, in some extreme cases you can expect to pay double for a similar apartment in Shanghai,” said Alberto Vettoretti, Chairman of the European Chamber South China Chapter.
Guo Taiming, CEO of Foxconn, is presenting the new advanced display project located in Zengcheng of Guangzhou. [Photo\oeeee.com]
The relatively low living cost is one of important factors that a large number of world’s innovative giants settled in Guangzhou recently. “Looking to China as a whole, Guangdong and Guangzhou still have competitive advantages for less labour-intensive enterprises and high tech industries, amongst others,” said Marc De Schutter, Chairman of Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China.
In the first 15 days of this March, Guangzhou has signed 8 innovative and high-tech projects which are either invested by the global 500 companies or the leading players in the industries. These include Foxconn’s advanced display project, GE and Beigene’s bio-medicine project, AsianInfo’s headquarter and etc., all of which are of extremely large scale and worth above billions of USD.
“As a mega city, Guangzhou equips completed infrastructure as the sophisticated transport network, education and health facilities with relatively low housing costs, providing innovative enterprises and talents a competitive business environment,” said Zheng Tianxiang, professor of the Center for studies of Hong Kong, Macao and Pearl River Delta in the Sun Yat-Sen University.
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