Hong Kong ranked 13th most expensive city in global cost-of-living survey

[OneStepCloser]

Hong Kong ranked 13th most expensive city in global cost-of-living survey

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 04 March, 2014, 7:59pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 04 March, 2014, 7:59pm

Ernest Kao and Phila Siu [email protected] [email protected]

Hong Kong climbed one place in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living Survey from last year’s 14th place. Photo: Robert Ng

Hong Kong has scaled another rung on the global cost of living ladder to become the 13th most expensive city in the world to live in, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit survey.

Driven by currency appreciation and inflationary pressure, Hong Kong climbed one place in the think-tank’s Worldwide Cost of Living Survey from last year’s 14th place.

But the city still fell one position in Asia to fifth place, behind Tokyo, Melbourne, Sydney and the new title holder for most expensive city in the world to live in – Singapore.

The study looks at 400 individual US dollar price points for 160 different products and services in 140 cities across the world. These include food, alcohol, tobacco, toiletries, private schools, entertainment, clothing, domestic help, transport and utility bills. Housing and rental costs are excluded from the survey.

The think tank says the purpose of the survey is to calculate cost-of-living allowances and rationalise compensation packages for expatriates.

Edward Bell, senior commodities economist at the EIU, said the widening gap in living costs between the lion city and Hong Kong could make the latter a relatively more attractive destination for multinational companies looking to relocate an employee.

“From a cost perspective, if comparing the two key financial hubs, our findings show that Hong Kong would be the relatively cheaper place,” he added.

The minor rise in Hong Kong’s rank reflected stable inflation in the cost of living, while Singapore saw a significant rise in costs this year due to higher structural costs such as transportation, fuel costs, and a stronger currency, said Bell.

Chinese University economics professor Wallace Mok kai-chung, was not surprised about the findings.

He said the average salaries of Singaporeans had risen sharply over the years, and had now surpassed the wages of Hongkongers. With higher salaries came higher cost of commodities, Mok said.

Due to the weaker yen, Tokyo fell from first in the world last year to sixth this year, while Osaka fell from second last year to Hong Kong’s previous rank of 14 this year.

The cost of living on the mainland continued to rise with almost all Chinese cities moving up from last year’s rankings. The most expensive city was Shanghai, which climbed nine spots to 101 on the worldwide index, surpassing New York City.

“Wage inflation has driven up local prices, but internationally the impact of a stronger renminbi has also been felt,” said Jon Copestake, the report’s editor.

The cities are compared to a base city of New York, which has an index set at 100.

 

[sochi2014]

you will cry when you live in HK apartments.

then you will be grateful that PAP didnt build shoebox apartments.