Dublin costs rocketing

House prices see capital shoot up list of most expensive cities from 66th to 32nd

DUBLIN has shot up the rankings of the world’s most expensive cities, surpassing Paris, Milan and Rome and sparking concern about the pace of house building.

The capital jumped 34 places from 66th to 32nd, leading to fears that the high cost of rent and living conditions may scare off business post-Brexit.

Responding to the figures in Mercer’s annual Cost of Living Survey, Property Industry Ireland director David Duffy said: ‘What we would like to see is more supply coming into the market and increasing supply into the rental sector, an increase in supply of build-to-rent and apartments.’

He also called for an easing of buildings’ height restrictions to help ease accommodation problems. ‘The issues that are raised by this report reflect the competitiveness challenge that Ireland is facing,’ he said.

He said Brexit offered an opportunity but to avail of it we need to focus on the housing market. And a developed rental sector would appeal to people who are only coming for a number of years.

Noel O’Connor, senior consultant at financial managers Mercer, said: ‘While all eurozone cities rose in the rankings, due to the euro strength against the dollar, Dublin has now overtaken Paris to become the most expensive city in the eurozone, in terms of cost of living for expatriate workers.’ The most expensive EU city is Copenhagen in 14th place.

The survey identifies cost pressures on expatriate rental accommodation in Dublin as the key driver of the rise and this in turn reflects the growth of the economy with continuing high levels of foreign direct investment.

Factors such as the instability of housing markets, low inflation, and fluctuating prices for goods and services are impacting the cost of doing business in various cities around the world, according to the survey.

Dublin still ranks behind London, while Belfast is a much cheaper place to live, ranking 152nd.

The top three most expensive cities in the world are Hong Kong, Tokyo and Zurich.

The Swiss cities of Zurich, third, Bern, tenth, and Geneva, 11th, lead as the most costly cities in Europe while four out of five of the world’s most expensive cities for expatriates are now in Asia.

The rise of western European cities in the rankings is mainly as a result of strong local currencies against the US dollar as well as the costs of goods and services.

‘What we would like is more supply’