Moving to Moscow

My wife an I are considering a move to Moscow. What would our likely outgoings be on stuff like:

Rent (2 bed flat out of the centre but within 10-15 mins walk of metro)
Water rates (equivalent?)
Council tax (equivalent?)
Income Tax
Power bills
Telephone
Home Insurance
Health Insurance
Car insurance (something similar to Ford Focus or Peugeot 307, nothing flash)
Parking permit
Monthly metro card
Weekly food expenditure

Just trying to get a comparison with the UK for cost of living.

It ain't gonna be cheap. Click here to see that it's actually more expensive than London. You could try checking out The Moscow Times, which can give you a sense for rent. Also, check out the forums on the Moscow expat website. Ruth is sure to have more information and resources.

Dave

This is pretty much an impossible question to answer. Cost of the flat will depend upon whether it has been renovated since Soviet times or not and what sort of amenities it has. Friends have a very basic 2 room apartment (not 2 bedroom) for which they pay about 200 USD per month. It is about 10-15 minute walk to the Kolomenskoe metro in a relatively nice area. But it is not renovated. The kitchen is VERY small with one small counter, a tiny stove and a reasonable fridge in the hallway. I haven't the foggiest idea what their utilities are but I suspect that they aren't much.

AIG sells insurance in Russia. I would check with them for rates for your car. To some degree it will depend upon factors like where it is garaged and how much collision and comprehensive coverage your purchase. There is a minimum requirement now and it is required. If you need to get a Russian drivers license be prepared to spend some money to do this.

Health insurance is likely to be expensive. Western medical care is expensive. There are several western clinics. I would check the Moscow Yellow pages online and check out American Clinic, American Medical Center, European Medical Center, International SOS, etc. There is a page about this on the expat.ru website.

There is a section of the Moscow Times online about moving to Moscow which you might find helpful.

I think a monthly Moscow metro card is limited to 70 rides. Prices here: Moscow Metro official website

Weekly food expenditure will depend upon what you eat and where you shop and how much wine you drink and whether you entertain. No way to predict without more information. Since I am not there I can't tell you but I can tell you that the US government feels that it is expensive enough that there is a 42% cost of living adjustment for diplomats residing in Moscow. That means that the average cost of a basket of groceries and entertainment is considered to be 42% more than in the average US city.

Ruth

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<hr>Friends have a very basic 2 room apartment (not 2 bedroom) for which they pay about 200 USD per month.<hr></blockquote>

you really must be very lucky to find such a flat. it's been a long time since i heard '200USD' last. now i believe you can't rent anything good enough and not too ruined for less then USD500.
good advice will be not to use rental agencies' service - too many occasions when they take a deposit for a flat/room they are going to show you and after that they gone.

public utilities for a three-room flat cost appr USD100-150 including phone, electricity, water, heating, gas (if you have a gas stove), waste utulisation. for a two-room it's going to be around 100 i guess.

Moscow metro card can be not only a metro card but a card for unlimited usage in metro, bus, trolleybus, tram - 1080RUR monthly in 2007.

and food... if you are going to buy products and cook yourselves it will not be too costy and if you want to spend some time in a cafe/restaurant/bar in Moscow then you'll have to prepare your wallet...

What is the reason to go to Moskva and staying there? If you go there for business why not ask your partners? Why do you ask in a forum, a forum for people asking how they can stay a night for nothing? I think it it the wrong place for asking these stupid questions.

Budget for rent would be about £800-£1000 if that helps. In terms of groceries we live in Britain so we are used to paying through the nose. Would cook mostly for ourselves and eat out at restaurant maybe once a week. Likewise for everything else. Just trying to get an appreciation of how much we would both have to earn to maintain our current standard of living. What about taxes anybody know?

Taxes depend upon your status and where you are working and things that you don't mention. Talk with your employer or look on expat forums or contact the British embassy in Moscow.

Ruth

Spoerle is at it again. Ignore him. He likes to put people down.

Where are the qualified answers to the questions above? No single answer will help these people asking those questions in a forum like Thorntree! I am sure they have never been in a foreign country and never before in Russia. Go carefully through all the questions then you will find it is nonsens.

You should be able to find a relatively good appartment for this money (good for Moscow, that is, the standards of things like renovation and furniture is, in my opinion, lower in Moscow than it is in London). For comparison, my friends have recently got an 2-room appartment at the south end of the orange metro line, ~10 minutes from the metro station, and they pay ~$900 for it. Another friend pays the same for a one-room in the center.

As Ruth said, taxes depend on your status. The regular income tax in Russia is 13%, but I don't think this applies to expats. Water/electricity/gaz is cheap. Car insurance/Parking permit - I really would not recommend driving in Moscow. The traffic is very congested, the drivers are crazy and parking place is very hard to find.

Go away Spoerle. No one wants you here.

Also try www.retape.ru and as has been mentioned www.expat.ru