The world’s most expensive cities

SINGAPORE is the world’s most expensive city for the fifth straight year in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) latest Worldwide Cost of Living report, with Paris a close second.

Asia Pacific and European destinations dominated the ranks of costliest cities identified in the report released this week. Tokyo and Osaka were conspicuous in their absence from the top 10, edged out by low inflation.

As recently as 2013, Tokyo was the world’s costliest city to live in. The Japanese capital dropped seven places to 11th over the past year. Hong Kong, last year’s second-most expensive city, slipped to fourth place. Sydney rose four notches to break into the top 10, with Oslo, Geneva, Zurich and Copenhagen also climbing the list compiled from a survey of 160 places across 133 countries.

“Currency fluctuations continue to be a major cause for changes in the ranking,” the EIU said.

A weakening dollar meant no US city was among the 10 most expensive, despite a rise in the relative cost of living in the US over recent years, the EIU said. The report named New York and Los Angeles as the 13th and 14th costliest, down from ninth and 11th positions last year.

Paris is the only euro zone city among the top 10 most expensive, even as the euro rallied. The EIU said the French capital remained “structurally extremely expensive to live in, with only alcohol, transport and tobacco offering value for money compared with other European cities”.

Tel Aviv was the sole Middle East metropolis among the top 10, but transport costs there are 79 percent above New York prices. Though Asia is home to the world’s most expensive places to live, it also has some of the most affordable. This year, the Syrian capital of Damascus and Venezuela’s Caracas were ranked the world’s cheapest. – Bloomberg