Mercer has released a study outlining the world's most expensive cities for expatriate rental property. Here are the top ten:
From the report:
Asian cities dominate the world’s top 10 costliest locations for expatriate rental property, according to a Mercer study of housing costs and practices for employees sent on overseas assignments. Outside of Asia, New York, Geneva and London appear near the top of the ranking while Moscow holds the number one position.
From a survey of 300 cities around the world, Mercer has produced a rental property index of the 50 most popular cities for expatriate assignments. The research provides multinational companies with financial information on rental prices for their expatriate employees in major commercial centers. Data is based on typical rentals for one- to four-bedroom apartments and three- to four-bedroom houses, furnished and unfurnished.
New York is used as the base city, with a score of 100 points. Moscow, at the top of the ranking, scores 168.30, while Johannesburg, at position 50, is substantially less costly with a score of 31.50. As the index is based on cost comparisons using the US dollar, currency exchange rates have an influence on the rankings.
Marie-Laurence Sépède, senior associate and research manager at Mercer, commented, “The world’s housing markets have been sliding since 2008, and strong currency fluctuations in the past few months have also had a strong impact on the comparative cost of expatriate housing. The value of the euro has dropped by around 12 percent against the US dollar since September last year, while the Polish zloty, Mexican peso, Australian dollar, Brazilian real and the British pound have all lost more than 30 percent in value against the dollar during the same period.
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James of DC 6:09PM April 07, 2009