International Workforce Management Consulting Firm
Survey of 207 Cities... New York Ranks First
Seoul has surpassed Tokyo, Japan, to rank as the 9th most expensive city in the world for living expenses of foreign residents.
Bloomberg News and Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 7th (local time), citing a survey by global workforce management consulting firm ECA International, that New York was the most expensive city for foreign living expenses this year.
New York, which ranked 2nd last year behind Hong Kong, rose to 1st place due to the strong dollar and inflation.
ECA International annually analyzes living expenses including housing costs, clothing and food prices, entertainment expenses, alcohol, and tobacco prices in areas primarily inhabited by foreigners across 207 cities in 120 countries worldwide, selecting the 'Top 20' most expensive cities for foreigners to live in.
ECA International attributed the rise in Seoul's prices to tax reforms that suppressed real estate supply. Tokyo was analyzed to have dropped five places to rank 10th due to the continuous depreciation of the yen.
New York rose to 1st place due to inflation and increased accommodation costs, while Hong Kong, which had been the most expensive city globally for four consecutive years from 2019 to last year, fell to 2nd place due to a decrease in accommodation costs and other factors.
Following last year, 3rd place was Geneva, Switzerland, and 4th place was London, United Kingdom. Singapore took 5th place, up from 13th last year.
Singapore was analyzed to have seen increased demand for rental housing due to the early easing of COVID-19 restrictions compared to other major Asian regions, but accommodation supply could not keep up.
Other major Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Beijing dropped in ranking compared to last year due to the depreciation of the yuan, while Dubai rose to 12th place with rents increasing by more than 30% due to a large influx of Russians.
The top 20 most expensive cities for living expenses are as follows. The numbers in parentheses indicate last year's ranking.
2. China Hong Kong (1)
3. Switzerland Geneva (3)
4. United Kingdom London (4)
5. Singapore (13)
6. Switzerland Zurich (7)
7. United States San Francisco (11)
8. Israel Tel Aviv (6)
9. South Korea Seoul (10)
10. Japan Tokyo (5)
11. Switzerland Bern (16)
12. UAE Dubai (23)
13. China Shanghai (8)
14. China Guangzhou (9)
15. United States Los Angeles (21)
16. China Shenzhen (12)
17. China Beijing (14)
18. Denmark Copenhagen (18)
19. UAE Abu Dhabi (22)
20. United States Chicago (25)
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