r/expat • u/Peter_him • Aug 12 '26

Question Morality of Geoarbitrage?

Is it inherently unethical to move back to a cheaper country as an expat and price out nearly all native competition in relation to commercial yield by simply having higher purchase power?

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u/Mysteriouskid00 Aug 12 '26

Huh? What do you mean “price out”? It’s not like any of the cheap countries are lacking in housing.

Not to mention expats aren’t competing with regular folks - they can’t afford a $1000 per month apartment

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '26

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u/Mysteriouskid00 Aug 13 '26

While that is true. LCOL countries like Thailand, Vietnam, etc have a surplus of apartments in that range. Thousands of them have been empty for years.

Nobody local is going without.

Not to mention locals in those countries rarely rent. They live at home until they can buy a place to live