Millennials’ goods cheaper in Dubai

STUDY SPRINGS MANY SURPRISES LIKE HONG KONG, OTHERWISE CONSIDERED EXPENSIVE

Dubai is among the cheaper cities compared to London or New York when it comes to millennials’ must-have basket of goods, which includes smartphones, a laptop, a pair of jeans, a pair of sneakers, a Netflix subscription, a cup of coffee, a Big Mac and avocados, a UBS study reveals. |

Dubai is among the cheaper cities compared to London or New York when it comes to millennials’ must-have basket of goods which includes an iPhone, a laptop, a pair of jeans, a pair of sneakers, a Netflix subscription, a cup of coffee, a Big Mac and avocados, a UBS study reveals.

The study threw many surprises like Hong Kong which is otherwise considered an expensive place for expats is the cheapest when it comes to the basket of millennial goods. The most expensive was Buenos Aires, which is an affordable place for expats.

A high-end smartphone would cost $2,242 in Buenos Aires, compared to $1,212 in Dubai. They are available in Hong Kong for $1,096, the cheapest in the lot.The most expensive coffee was available in Dubai for $5.70 among the data of cities available, and the cheapest coffee was available in Johhanesburg at $1.49. A kilogramme of avocados would cost more than $8 in Zurich compared to $3.05 in Hong Kong. Similarly millennials can buy the cheapest sneakers in Bangkok for $68 compared to $142 in Moscow and $78 in Dubai.

Another surprise was Zurich. Smartphones had the third-cheapest price tag, dropping the expensive Swiss city to fifth place overall. But millennials here will have pretty empty pockets after paying the highest prices for their jeans, Netflix and coffee.

The UBS study was part of Price and Earnings 2018, which was instituted in 1971 and conducted every three years.

Millennials, who were born between 1982 and 1998, account for 27 per cent of the global population and may hold $24 trillion of the world’s private wealth — 1.5 times the United States national output in 2015 — from $17 trillion now.

In terms of purchasing power, Dubai ranks lower than even Manama on the list.

Manama

Manama came in at 8th in terms of purchasing power, while for price level the city was ranked 39th, and the city figured 35th on the list for earnings just before Dubai.

Dubai, which ranked 36th on the list, is a much more expensive city compared to Manama. “You have the convergence of wages from emerging markets in general to more developed and richer countries. This is a region somewhere in between, so it’s a region somewhere in between. They have superior wages because of non-existent income tax and social security,” Daniel Kalt, chief economist and regional chief investment officer Switzerland at UBS Switzerland said.

Los Angeles figured first on the list for purchasing power followed by Zurich. For earnings, Geneva was best place followed by Zurich, and they were equally expensive.