Tokyo top, Singapore sixth for expats

Tokyo has overtaken Luanda as the most expensive city for expatriates according to Mercer's latest Cost of Living survey. Osaka is in third position, up three places from last year, whereas Moscow remains in fourth and Geneva in fifth positions.

Singapore is ranked in sixth place alongside the Swiss city of Zurich and ahead of Hong Kong. At the bottom of the table, Karachi is ranked as the world's least expensive city, less than one-third as expensive as Tokyo.

Cities in Asia Pacific rank highly in the report. Tokyo (1), Osaka (3), Singapore (6), Hong Kong (9) and Nagoya (10), are all placed inside the top two globally. Shanghai (16), Beijing (17), Shenzhen (30) and Guangzhou (31) also feature prominently.

KLCC Twin Towers

 "The combination of increased prices on goods and a strengthening of the Chinese yuan has pushed Chinese cities up the ranking. Continued high demand for accommodation has also led to moderate increases in rental costs," said Nathalie Constantin-Métral, Principal at Mercer.

In India, New Delhi (113) and Mumbai (114) have dropped considerably - by 28 and 19 places respectively. Elsewhere in Asia, Jakarta (61) is up eight places, Bangkok (81) is up seven and Kuala Lumpur (102) is up two places. Hanoi's position remained unchanged at 136, and Karachi (214) remains the region's least expensive city for expatriates.

Australian cities continue to rank high on the list in the Asia Pacific region and, following the strengthening of the Australian dollar, have all experienced further jumps up the global list since last year. Sydney (11) and Melbourne (15) experienced relatively moderate jumps, up three and six places respectively, whereas Perth (19) and Canberra (23) both jumped 11 places. Brisbane (24) rose by seven places, and Adelaide (27) shot up 19 places. Australia now has three surveyed cities in the top 20 and all six surveyed cities in the top 30. In New Zealand, both Auckland (56) and Wellington (74) both jumped a very significant 62 places.

"The leap up the list by cities in New Zealand follows large increases in both accommodation cost and demand, coupled with a stronger New Zealand dollar," explained Constantin-Métral.

"Demand for rental properties has also increased significantly in all the Australian cities we rank. Coupled with very limited availability, the result has been very tight markets and increased prices."

The authors of the report noted that recent world events, including economic and political upheavals, have affected the rankings for many regions through currency fluctuations, inflation, and volatility in accommodation prices.

Quote from Property Guru 12 June 2012

For Home buyers, sellers or property renters looking for Malaysian Properties, may like to visit jacklimproperty.com today.