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28 March 2024

World's most expensive cities for expats...

Published
By Parag Deulgaonkar

Cost of living in Dubai is rising due to increasing rents, but compared globally the emirate is still among the least expensive cities for expatriates, says a new report.

Dubai is now ranked 174th globally of the 400 cities surveyed by ECA International’s cost of living report 2013.

CBRE, a global consultancy, stated in April that average rents the first quarter 2013 for two bed units in established residential locations such as Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah and Downtown Dubai rose 27 per cent year-on-year.

Dubai Marina

Rents for apartments in The Greens community on Sheikh Zayed Road surged by over 40 per cent in past 12 months, the highest increase among master communities in Dubai, it said.

The Greens

Average villa rents, CBRE said, jumped by nearly five per cent in the first quarter with smaller unit (two and three bed) registered substantially higher growth of nine per cent and seven per cent, respectively.

According to ECA, the world's leader in providing solutions for the management of international assignments, Oslo, Norway's capital, is the world’s expensive location for expatriates.



View on Oslo and the harbor. [Image via Shutterstock]

It overtook Tokyo, which held the first place for three consecutive years, but is placed at the sixth position this year (2013).

Tokyo, Japan [Image via Shutterstock]

Angolan capital Luanda followed by Stavanger (Norway), Juba (South Sudan) and Moscow (Russia) make it to the top five.

Companies sending employees on international assignment often pay an allowance to ensure that their assignees' spending power is not compromised.

To help multinational companies calculate these allowances, ECA carries out two Cost of Living Surveys per year, comparing a basket of consumer goods and services commonly purchased by assignees in more than 400 locations worldwide.

Living costs for assignees are affected by inflation, availability of goods and exchange rates, all of which can have a significant impact on assignee remuneration packages.

Certain living costs such as accommodation rental, utilities charges, car purchases and school fees are usually compensated for separately in expatriate packages so this data is not included in this survey but researched and published separately.

British locations, ECA said, have fallen most in the ranking. Central London dropped 21 places and is currently in 87th place globally, largely as a result of the pound depreciating against other major currencies. Chisinau, capital of Moldova, is the cheapest European location in terms of cost of living for international assignees. It ranks 225th globally.

In Asia, Japanese cities still dominate the top of the cost of living ranking with four of the region's top five most expensive locations found there.

Seoul joins them, having jumped from seventh to third most expensive Asian location (and from 29th to 14th globally).

Beijing (24th globally), Shanghai (26th), Singapore (36th) and Hong Kong (38th) complete the list of the top 10 most expensive locations in Asia.

Indian locations continue to be among the region's cheapest in terms of cost of living for international assignees.

New Delhi, ranked 200th globally, is followed by Mumbai (215th). Karachi is ranked 256th globally and is the least expensive Asian location for expatriates.

Africa is home to four - Luanda (2nd globally), Juba (4th), Brazzaville (18th) and Kinshasa (19th) - of the world's 20 most expensive expatriate locations, ECA said.

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