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 [Photosouthcn.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. [Photooeeee.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.
广州生活成本全球排名第69位 国内一线城市中广州房价最低
生活成本优势吸引创新巨头落户广州
近日，经济学人智库发布的《全球城市生活成本调查》显示，广州排名第69位，系在调查涉及的所有中国城市中生活成本最低的城市，也是中国一线城市中房价成本最低的城市。对此，专家认为，国际国内创新企业正在加大布局广州，一个重要的原因就是综合成本相对较低。
榜单
生活成本排名下降13位
全球城市生活成本调查是经济学人智库的一项调查，该项调查对全球133座城市的150多项价格指标展开了对比。该调查将纽约作为基准城市，将其生活成本指数设定为100，以此为参照对其他城市生活成本加以统计比较。调查显示，全球城市生活成本最高的是新加坡，而排名最后一位则是来自哈萨克斯坦的阿拉木图。
在全球生活成本最高的前6个城市中，有5个来自亚洲，分别是新加坡（第1位）、香港（第2位）、东京（第4位）、大阪（第5位）、首尔（第6位）。在前10个城市中，苏黎世（第3位）、日内瓦（第7位）、巴黎（第8位）、纽约（第9位）、根本哈根（并列第9位）则是来自欧洲及北美的城市。
这一变化与汇率有关。由于日元汇率反弹、韩元升值，日、韩的上述3座城市生活成本排名上升。类似地，中国内地城市由于人民币对美元汇率走低，其排名则出现下降。
在生活成本下降最大的10个城市中，中国就占了5席位，分别有北京、广州、苏州、天津、大连，其中北京（第47位）、苏州（第69位）下降幅度最大，下降了16名；而广州（第69位）下降了13名，与苏州、天津（第69位）并列，系在调查涉及的所有中国城市中生活成本最低的城市。
在中国具有全球性影响的数座城市中，香港（第2位）、上海（第16位）、北京（第47位）的生活成本均高于广州。
楼市
广州2016年房价远低于北上深
一座城市的生活成本是取决于多方面的，而房价成本是其中一个重要方面，且具有影响其他价格因素的作用。
统计数据显示，在中国北京、上海、广州、深圳等一线城市中，广州的住房是最低的。
截至2016年12月，北京、上海、深圳的每1平方米一手房成交均价分别为33412元、38283元和53774元，远远高于广州的16679元。
就二手房成交均价来看，北京、上海、深圳每平方米的价格分别达到49102元、49631元和47606元，也比广州的15433元高出3万多元。
从租房均价来看，北京、上海、深圳每平方米租价都超过了60元，分别为69.27元、67.61元和67.97元，比广州的43.55元高出20多元。也就是说，如果你在广州租住一套30平米的房子，要比在北上深少花费600元钱。
虽然2017年以来，北京、上海、广州、深圳房价均有所上涨，但是目前广州房价在一线城市中仍然低于北、上、深。
■专家
生活成本相对较低
是跨国企业选择广州的一大因素
“生活成本相对较低也是富士康等创新巨头选择广州的原因之一。”中山大学港澳珠三角研究中心教授郑天祥表示，广州作为超大城市，生活品质好，但生活成本尤其是住房成本却是一线城市中较低的，加上教育、医疗综合服务功能齐备，人才丰富、交通网络方便、发展前景好，共同构成了广州具有竞争力的营商环境，成为吸引创新企业落户和创新人才定居的“广州优势”。
上周六，北京大学的校内论坛BBS上，“想去广州工作”成为了当日的十大热门话题之一。广州释放人才“引力波”，又有了一个有力注脚。
对于近期广州推出的限购新政，郑天祥也给予“点赞”：“这种办法也可以更好抑制房价过快上涨，为实体经济创造更好的发展环境。”
在郑天祥看来，房地产盲目扩张会透支城市的未来，缩短城市生命周期，加快衰老。因为房价过高、过快发展的城市，生活成本必然上涨，制造业等实体经济所需要的各类劳动力和人才生存空间就必然受到压缩，实体经济不振就会带来产业空心化问题。
那么，如何让城市可持续发展、保持相对合理成本呢？郑天祥表示，这需要政府摒弃“赚快钱”的思维，为实体经济提供良好发展环境，包括抑制土地、住房成本过快上涨，为实体经济提供低成本金融服务，从而让实体经济蓬勃发展。
郑天祥认为，这种良性势头已经在广州出现。从富士康到百济神州、从央企运营投资基金到亚信大数据全球总部……3月前15天，共有8大创新项目“牵手”广州，几乎以每2天1个项目的速度在快速布局，这些项目投资方既有世界500强企业，也有行业领军者。“这些项目已经不是一般的项目，像富士康在增城打造的全球最先进显示器项目，就是一个‘升级版的富士康’。”郑天祥说，可以说，国际国内创新企业正在用脚投票低成本的广州。
