Swiss cities remain most costly

GENEVA — Zurich and Geneva are still the world’s two most expensive major cities, the annual rankings of 77 metropolitan areas by Swiss bank UBS showed on Tuesday.

Egypt’s capital Cairo is the cheapest, the survey found.

The two Swiss cities beat New York, Oslo and Copenhagen, as revealed in the bank’s research into the cost of living in cities around the world.

Zurich is also the most expensive place to party and it has often been viewed as neck and neck with Geneva cost-wise.

But, “the biggest difference can be found in services, such as haircuts, an hour of household help, dry cleaning, language classes etc., where Zurich is 20 percent pricier on average than Geneva”, said the survey.

UBS based its calculations on a basket of 128 goods and services representing the spending habits of a three-person European family — with separate data sets including and excluding rent, the single largest cost for most people.

Price for a Big Mac hamburger in Zurich, which approaches the cost of a whole meal in other cities.

Zurich and Geneva topped both data sets, although the difference with basis city New York was greater when rent was excluded.

In terms of price levels, Tokyo was the only Asian city in the top 10, coming in sixth, while its earning level ranked 17th and its purchasing power 20th.

However, in a subset of data for 11 big cities (including Zurich but not Geneva), UBS looked at where millennials (those born after 1980) would be best off to buy a package of typical must-have goods including an Apple iPhone, a laptop and a Netflix subscription.

China’s Hong Kong was the surprise winner for the study authors, but they said Zurich was another surprise.

“The iPhone here (in Zurich) has the thirdcheapest price tag on our list, dropping the expensive Swiss city to fifth place overall.

But millennials in Zurich will pay the highest prices for their jeans, Netflix and coffee. And at $6.33 each, a Big Mac hamburger in Zurich approaches the cost of a whole meal in other cities.

However, Zurich claimed top spot for the “Most expensive Saturday night”, ahead of Stockholm and Miami.

“Partying doesn’t come cheap in the Swiss and Swedish cities,” the authors said. “At around $27 for a club entry, $35 for a couple of drinks and the most expensive cab rides around, your night will lighten your wallet by nearly $100 for you alone.”

A couple looking for a Friday night out with a meal, bottle of wine and a movie will pay the most in Tokyo, New York and Stockholm, while the best values were in Prague, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro.