Hi, I have been in the ME for 6 weeks. I expected the cost of living to be much higher. It is relative to where you have come from. I think people moving from Asia will generally find it expensive, and people from Europe will generally find it reasonable - in comparison. However property is very expensive, try and get it provided as a benefit. Useful resource to compare cost of living is a website calculator called xpatulator. You can find it via google. Hope this helps.