Singapore is now the world’s 4th most expensive city for expats: survey

Four Asian cities dominate the Top 10.

Living in Singapore is becoming more and more becoming for both locals and expatriates alike. Mercer’s 2014 Cost of Living survey has named the city as the world’s 4th most expensive location for expats, inching up one spot from last year’s rankings.

Four Asian cities are in the top 10, with regional rival Hong Kong jumping three places to clinch the third spot. Singapore is the next most expensive city in the region, gaining one position from last year, followed by Tokyo, which ranked 7 dropping four places this year.

Jumping four spots since last year, Shanghai (10) is the next Asian city on the list, followed by Beijing (11), Seoul (14), and Shenzhen (17).

“Japanese cities have dropped in the ranking this year as a result of the yen’s weakening against the US dollar,” said Nathalie Constantin-Métral, Principal at Mercer. “However, Chinese cities jumped in the ranking, including Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen, due to the strengthening of the Chinese yuan.”

Here’s more from Mercer:
The survey covers 211 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment.

“Rankings in many regions were affected by recent world events, including economic and political upheavals, which resulted in currency fluctuations, cost inflation for goods and services, and volatility in accommodation prices,” said Ed Hannibal, Partner and Global Leader for Mercer’s Mobility practice.

"While Luanda and N’Djamena are relatively inexpensive cities, they are quite costly for expatriates since imported goods come at a premium. In addition, finding secure living accommodations that meet the standards of expatriates can be challenging and quite costly as well. This is generally why some African cities rank high in our survey."

Other cities appearing in the top 10 of Mercer’s costliest cities for expatriates are Bern, Moscow, and Shanghai. Karachi, ranked 211, is the world’s least expensive city for expatriates, and the survey found that Luanda is more than three times as costly as Karachi.

According to Mr. Hannibal, “While multinationals continue to recognize the importance of having a global workforce and corporate assignments remain prevalent, they must be able to monitor and balance the cost of their expatriate programs. Employers need to evaluate the impact of currency fluctuations, inflation, and political instability when sending employees on overseas assignments while ensuring they retain talented employees by offering competitive compensation packages.”

Currency fluctuations and the impact of inflation on goods and services have influenced the cost of expatriate programs as well as the city rankings.