Apartment rent rates in Taipei are the 27th highest in the world, according to a recent survey conducted by ECA International, the world's largest membership organization for international human-resource professionals.
The survey, which compared rental prices for a three-bedroom apartment in 92 cities worldwide last year showed that Hong Kong has the highest rent, with an apartment in a popular expatriate region of the city costing approximately US$8,592 per month on average.
Taipei ranked 27th, with an average rent of NT$94,000 (US$2,816) per month, down four notches from 2005.
Lee Quane, general-manager of ECA International Hong Kong, told the Central News Agency that Taipei's rental rates were stable among Asian cities.
in light of the fact that they rose only a moderate 2 percent last year, compared with Hong Kong's 10 percent and Singapore's 15 percent.
However, if examined on a longer time frame, Taipei's rental rates have increased 16 percent over the past five years, a hike that is larger than those of Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore during the same period, Quane said.
He predicted that in the next few years, property prices and rental rates will continue to rise in Asia, which is home to the world's fastest-growing economies.
While rental rates in Shanghai are expected to increase by 4 percent to 5 percent, those in Taipei are likely to jump between 3 percent and 4 percent, Quane said.
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