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Asia's most expensive cities
Tokyo surged past Seoul to become the most expensive city in Asia for foreigners. And Beijing is now more expensive than New York City.
By Tina Wang, Forbes
Those looking to live the good life in Beijing had better have fat wallets. Maintaining a business-class lifestyle in the 2008 Summer Olympics’ host city now costs more than living in New York City for the first time since 2004. In the booming Chinese capital, a cup of coffee and an international newspaper at the start of your workday will set you back $10.60, compared with $5.75 in the Big Apple.
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But that's nothing compared to Tokyo, where rent on a luxury two-bedroom unfurnished apartment goes for a whopping $5,128.84 a month, uncooked spaghetti costs more than twice as much as in New York, and domestic cleaning help runs at $18.46 an hour.
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That's enough to make Tokyo Asia's most expensive city, according to Mercer's 2008 Cost of Living Survey, released July 24. The firm conducts the survey to guide multinationals and governments on devising pay packages for their employees abroad. It takes New York as the base, against which all other cities are compared on a cost of living index that factors costs of housing, food, transport, clothing, household goods and entertainment. About 200 items, ranging from a burger to dry cleaning, comprise the "basket of goods" evaluated in 26 Asian cities.
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Singapore ranked fifth behind Seoul, South Korea; Hong Kong; and Osaka, Japan, in spots two through four, respectively.
Due to a weak dollar, they and No. 6 Beijing are more expensive for foreigners to maintain their lifestyle than in New York City.
Behind the numbers
This year, record inflation levels powered Tokyo's surge to overtake Seoul as the most expensive city in Asia for expatriates. In the infamously pricey Japanese capital, the pace of inflation in the past two months is the decade's highest, at 1.5% in May and 1.9% in June over a year earlier.
With a government eager to boost exporters by reining in currency appreciation, second-ranking Seoul became about 7% cheaper than Tokyo for foreigners. It dropped two places to be fifth-priciest city in the world, as the won weakened slightly against the dollar.
Traditional Asian business heavyweight Hong Kong slipped slightly this year, becoming a little less expensive compared with New York City than last year. But on a tiny island that is an international business hub, rent prices have nowhere to go but sky-high. A luxury, two-bedroom, unfurnished apartment costs an astronomical $6,412 a month, compared with $4,500 in Moscow, the world's most expensive city for foreigners, and more than $4,900 in London, which ranks second.
With high inflation levels and the government's loosening of the yuan, which has steadily gained against the dollar, business hub Shanghai, China, moved up two spots to rank 24th in the world, at just under 2% less expensive than New York.
On the rupee's strengthening against the dollar, the Indian cities of Mumbai and New Delhi shot up four places and 13 places, respectively, in world rankings, to take over the bottom two spots of Asia's 10 most expensive cities.
A luxury two-bedroom apartment rents for an astounding $4,533 a month in Mumbai, which ranks 48th in the world, compared with $3,388 in Seoul. The cost of labor is still much cheaper than in East Asian cities, though, as domestic cleaning help costs $3.78 an hour, versus $6.69 in Beijing, $8.47 in Seoul and $18.46 in Tokyo.
Foreigners may face even higher expenses in some Asian cities soon, as governments roll back fuel subsidies. Facing higher oil prices worldwide, countries from China to Indonesia are no longer keeping resource costs as artificially low as before.
Higher domestic energy costs will add inflationary pressure to prices.
Meanwhile, foreigners can find the best deals in Karachi, Pakistan, which at 141st place in the world is the cheapest city in Asia.
The top 5 most expensive cities in Asia
1. Tokyo
3. Hong Kong
4. Osaka, Japan
5. Singapore
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wow beijing seems expensive here.. but in just a lil off the main cbd, beijing is actually cheap. i guess this is for luxury to luxury comparison. :)
some parts of beijing it's a pocket killer, but most parts it's okay. luxury is luxury even in the asia
cool pics. luxury is luxury. even in nyc things are very expensive but if you go to the right places you can get a nice lunch for 5 dollars.
btw i just found a new travel site i think you all might enjoy - baraaza.com. its pretty cool.
yeah I hear you can get by in beijing on the cheap if you know where to go.
hey thanks melissa, I checked out baraaza.com and thought it was pretty good. they're in private beta, but have one of the cooler travel sites out there.
These destinations sure are expensive but they quite effectively provide the sheer luxury on a holiday trip one can desire from a destination. Go for a cheap flight to Singapore and and spend an outrageous vacation in one of Asia's best.