Mark Twain famously said, “buy land, they’re not making it anymore”. This rings true today as it relates to the U.S. housing market. Various reasons – local market conditions, lack of supply, robust demand from homebuyers as they take advantage of historically low interest rates, etc. – have caused a surge in home prices.
Global Mobility is often challenged by local HR about the housing budgets in a given location. What do you do in this case? Do you consider HR’s input and potentially adjust the housing budgets accordingly, or do you maintain the housing budgets based on the data from your provider?
In general, getting an employee to accept a domestic relocation can be difficult. It is not easy to uproot a family, logistically manage a move, and establish oneself in a new city. However, it can be even more challenging when the new location is considerably more expensive.
Talent Acquisition Managers and Recruiters are experts at selling the prospect of working at their company. There are issues that candidates consider that these companies can’t control…cost-of-living being one of them.
The Hague’s rental market has been facing an affordable housing shortage over the past several years. During my research, local housing sources explained that the rental market is used primarily by expatriates and lower income individuals. Fewer expatriates are arriving now, and many existing tenants are extending their leases.
The rental market in Moscow was greatly affected by the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, which resulted in many expats leaving the city, while simultaneously the local population suffered from a sharp increase in unemployment. Many expensive properties were left vacant by the exodus of expatriates, with the local population generally unable to spend as much on rent.
Rent in Hong Kong is notoriously among the highest in the world. In the face of a global pandemic preceded by a year of protests, rents have indeed dropped but remain high on a global scale. Price changes impacted upper-end housing the most, especially based on the area and neighborhood.
Before COVID-19, Bangkok’s economy was flourishing with new real estate projects and infrastructure developments that improved Bangkok resident’s living conditions.
Although China has continued to suspend the entry of most foreigners, Shanghai’s expatriate-quality rental market was strong over the past months, primarily due to strong demand from wealthy locals.
A quirk in the Stockholm rental market made it one of the more interesting cities that I researched virtually since the start of the pandemic.
