50 Most Expensive Cost of Living Cities on Earth (real estate, buying)

[LauraC]

Here are the Top 10 Most Expensive Cost of Living Cities (see link for the rest):

TOKYO, JAPAN
LUANDA, ANGOLA
OSAKA, JAPAN
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
N'DJAMENA, CHAD
HONG KONG, HONG KONG
NAGOYA, JAPAN

Cost of Living survey 2012

The US only has one city in the Top 50 and I bet you can guess which one.

I didn't realize Japan was such an expensive place to live.

[allenk893]

Originally Posted by LauraC

I didn't realize Japan was such an expensive place to live.

All that technologically advanced living doesn't come free.

[CowanStern]

They are not necessarily expensive cities to live. They are defined as expensive cities in which to maintain standards of living that are expected by international diplomats and corporate executives. They include the cost of having a suit dry-cleaned and pressed, and the cost of having a private car, and the cost of dining at a 5-star restaurant with a bottle of wine, and the cost of hiring a full-time housekeeper.

[ja1myn]

I thought South Korea was rather expensive as well. Aren't they on the same level as Japan? I heard they have the fastest WiFi available on the planet.

[DginnWonder]

Absolutely ridiculous that Luanda is that high on the list, let alone on the list at all. The country needs to diversify this economic windfall it's receiving from oil, so that it can maintain its success. Instead, it's all concentrated in one city, in a few hands...so much potential...

[SophieLL]

wow, Brasil is super-expensive!

12th and 13th Sao Paolo and Rio!!

[dunno what to put here]

This is for expatriates to maintain the standard of living they are used to I believe.. the Chadian capital is not expensive.. lol

[ErikJohnsson]

Plus exchange rate (from US to X) is also a factor. If the dollar:yen ratio changes with the dollar buying more yen, then Japanese cities become cheaper and may not be so high on this list. That said, Japan is expensive even if you're looking at it from an average single person's earnings and cost of living.

[DginnWonder]

My (rather naive, admittedly) question is how are the citizens of that city/country able to survive in these places?

[ALackOfCreativity]

Originally Posted by DginnWonder

My (rather naive, admittedly) question is how are the citizens of that city/country able to survive in these places?

As someone above said, that's the cost for an executive/diplomat/wealthy expatriot living there, not the locals.

Also some of the costs are unique to the rich. As a rich person in a poor country with bad security, you pretty much have to live in a closed off, secure, less-kidnapping-prone bubble completely separate from the outside economy.

From the article: "It might be surprising to see 20 African cities in the top third of the ranking. The main driver behind this is the difficulty finding good, secure accommodation for expatriates. So the limited supply of acceptable accommodation is very expensive. The cost of imported international goods is also high, contributing to many regional cities moving up the ranking,” said Ms Constantin-Métral."

If you look at the cities, a pattern of four main drivers seems to emerge: security problems (see: Africa, Brazil), expensive high end real estate (see: China, Europe, Japan), historically high currency prices (see: Australia, Japan) and the need to import a lot of day to day goods over large distances.