London-worlds Most Expensive City

[Rinrada]

Now we know.............It Costa-lot.....

Need a Pay Rise..........

Head up West, have a night on the town — and pay through the nose

By Christine Seib...(with thanks)

LONDON has leapfrogged Hong Kong and New York over the past three years to become the world’s most expensive city in which to live, a survey of 71 cities by global investment bank UBS yesterday revealed.

The capital’s rocketing rental costs helped to push London to the top of the rankings in the triennial survey, up from third place in 2003.

When the cost of housing was removed, London was the second-most expensive city, behind Oslo.

However, Londoners are only the sixth-best-paid workers in the world, which means that after the cost of living is taken from their wages, their purchasing power is down at No 20. Yet they put in fewer working hours than many employees — 1,782 hours each year, well below the 2,317 hours of the hardest workers, who live in Seoul. Workers in Paris put in the fewest hours, an average of 1,480.

Simone Hofer, an economist at UBS and editor of the survey, said: “Food in the supermarket isn’t that expensive.

Where London is expensive is in restaurants, hotels, services and transport. And the booming housing market definitely didn’t help to bring rents down.”

UBS used a basket of 122 typically-Western goods and services, including food, clothing, healthcare and heating, to measure prices in each city between February and April this year. The survey takes into account the number of hours worked by residents of each city and average wages are calculated using the net hourly pay of 14 different professions.

The survey is indexed against New York and measured in US dollars.

Tokyo is the most expensive place in which to buy food.

In the Japanese city it would cost $723 (£380) to buy a basket of 39 items.

The same goods would cost $473 in London, slightly below the average of $479.

London has by far the most expensive public transport — a second-class, one-way ticket for a 200km journey costs $91 in London, 65 per cent more than the same journey in New York.

London’s hotel rooms are also the world’s second-most expensive.

Around the world it would cost an average $298 for a double room with a bathroom and breakfast included in a first-class hotel, but in London the stay would cost $500, only slightly less than Tokyo at $510 and above New York at $450

Rank Cities Index.........

1 London 122.4

2 Oslo 109.4

3 New York 105.0

4 Tokyo 104.6

5 Copenhagen 104.1

6 Hong Kong 100.6

7 Zurich 100.0

8 Paris 99.3

9 Chicago 99.1

10 Geneva 98.2

11 Dublin 97.5

12 Stockholm 95.2

13 Basel 92.8

14 Helsinki 91.8

15 Vienna 90.8

16 Lugano 90.3

17 Milan 89.5

18 Istanbul 89.4

19 Amsterdam 86.4

20 Rome 86.2

21 Nicosia 85.7

22 Frankfurt 82.6

23 Luxembourg 81.0

24 Brussels 80.9

25 Athens 79.1

26 Sydney 77.9

27 Seoul 77.7

28 Los Angeles 76.8

29 Taipei 76.6

30 Berlin 76.2

31 Lisbon 74.5

32 Toronto 74.3

33 Madrid 73.9

34 Auckland 71.7

35 Singapore 71.2

36 Barcelona 67.7

37 Montreal 66.7

38 Moscow 66.2

39 Tel Aviv 65.4

40 Miami 65.3

41 Budapest 65.3

42 Dubai 65.3

43 Ljubljana 64.6

44 Shanghai 63.5

45 Johannesburg 62.7

46 Caracas 60.8

47 Manama 58.2

48 Warsaw 55.5

49 Lagos 55.3

50 Jakarta 55.0

51 Mexico City 54.9

52 Tallinn 52.7

53 São Paulo 51.8

54 Bratislava 49.9

55 Vilnius 48.2

56 Nairobi 47.6

57 Rio de Janeiro 46.0

58 Santiago de Chile 45.8

59 Prague 45.2

60 Bangkok 41.9

61 Bogotá 38.8

62 Riga 37.7

63 Manila 37.5

64 Kuala Lumpur 36.5

65 Sofia 36.4

66 Lima 32.7

67 Kiev 32.7

68 Bucharest 32.2

69 Karachi 29.1

70 Buenos Aires 27.8

71 Mumbai 27.8 .......................

[Michael W]

Report here.

[NordicMan]

Now we know.............It Costa-lot.....

Need a Pay Rise..........

The survey is indexed against New York and measured in US dollars.

3 New York 105.0

7 Zurich 100.0

How can it be indexed against new York, when NY is 105.0 and Zurich 100.0 ????

[britmaveric]

Don't believe it........

Reykjavik would put London to shame for being expensive.

[peterjackson]

Hey

I cannot find the OP's table anywhere in the official UBS report.

There's Lies, ###### Lies & Statistics.

The official report makes interesting reading.

Kind regards

Peter

[TRIPxCORE]

I have known for a long time that London is expensive. What I have often wondered was how so many of our forum members afforded to live there since so many of them seem to have lived there before? Isnt it next to impossible?

[Soju]

London-worlds Most Expensive City, buddy can you spare a dime?

The thing I want to know is when did the Brits start using dimes and calling each other terms like "buddy"?

[samran]

I have known for a long time that London is expensive. What I have often wondered was how so many of our forum members afforded to live there since so many of them seem to have lived there before? Isnt it next to impossible?

If you are earning pounds, then it is fine to live there

As the lady said, supermarket shopping in the UK is quite reasonalble. Much cheaper than in Australia for instance. Bless those EU agricultural subsidies.

[Rinrada]

London-worlds Most Expensive City, buddy can you spare a dime?

The thing I want to know is when did the Brits start using dimes and calling each other terms like "buddy"?

Who are you calling a ...Brit......

In the world cup I supported Germany,Iraq, Argentina and Trinidad and Tobago....Brit indeed .........bleeding Hill....

[Soju]

London-worlds Most Expensive City, buddy can you spare a dime?

The thing I want to know is when did the Brits start using dimes and calling each other terms like "buddy"?

Who are you calling a ...Brit......

In the world cup I supported Germany,Iraq, Argentina and Trinidad and Tobago....Brit indeed .........bleeding Hill....

Didn't at all mean to imply that you were a Brit. Obviously you're not a Brit using those terms, which is why I made my comment. I found it funny that in mentioning London, you used those terms, ie. if a Londoner found his cost of living to be too much and needed a handout, he wouldn't be using the line, "buddy can you spare a dime?", but rather, "mate, can you spare a few quid?"

[Rinrada]

No problem..Bud.....

Actually found out a few years ago that me old granddaddy is buried somewhere in New York City (pegged out before I was thought of )so bit of an interest over there.

Story that I have through the family had that he was involved in bootlegging... but I know for a fact that he wasnt a cobbler.

Just hope his mates wernt called Al or Bugsy but you never know....One day... ...one day....