by Roberta Murphy

Ah… the luxury of being able to comfortably live in one of the most expensive cities in the world (so why not divide one’s time between them–just for bragging rights?:-)

CNBC just released their 10 most expensive cities in the world to live where they included 200 factors such as costs for a 2-bedroom luxury apartment, utilities, transportation, food, clothing, entertainment and so on.

It might come as no surprise that three of the top 10 are in Japan, two are in Switzerland and two in Africa.

So, without boring our readers with details, we cut to the chase, offer the cities in descending order and include the expected monthly rent for a luxury 2-bedroom apartment plus cost of a fast meal and a cup of coffee:

1. Tokyo, Japan where rent runs $4848, a cup of coffee $8.29 and fast-food meal $8.29
2. Luanda, Angola where monthly rent runs $6500, a cup of coffee a bargain at $3.90 and a fast food meal for around $19.94
3. Osaka, Japan offers the luxury apartment at $3062, a cup of coffee at $7.02 and the fast-food meal at $8.29.
4. Moscow, Russia has their luxury apartment at $4200, with cup of coffee at $8.37 and the fast-food meal at $6.70. (And how about an international newspaper at $9.78?)
5. Geneva, Switzerland presents the luxury apartment at $4818, with cup of coffee at $6.57 and the fast food meal at a whopping $12.59.
6. Zurich, Switzerland (compare to Geneva) offers a comparable apartment at $3614, a cup of coffee at $6.02, and a fast food meal at $12.59.
7. Singpore might offer luxury digs at $3588, a cup of coffee for $5.18 and a fast food meal for $5.66
8. N’Djamena, Chad …just doesn’t seem to have much in the way of luxury 2-bedroom apartments for expatriates. But should you find a place to live, you’ll pay $3.32 for a cup of coffee and an outrageous sum of $25.18 for a fast-food meal.  Personal safety and OIL are big issues here.
9. Hong Kong offers a very pricey (but comparable) apartment for $7092 per month, the cup of coffee at $6.83–with a bargain fast food meal at $3.54.
10. Nagoya, Japan has the bargain luxury apartment at $2551 per month, the cup of coffee at $6.38 and the fast food meal at $8.42

Sitting in San Diego, I feel as if we are living in paradise at bargain basement prices.

Another cup of coffee, please?

The post Want to Live in a Most Expensive City? appeared first on Luxury Home Digest.

It’s interesting to study living costs in the most expensive cities in the world–at least as tabulated for 2009. According to Mercers, who tabulate these statistics for expatriate living, the 10 most expensive cities (based on housing, food, entertainment, clothing and transportation) are:

1. Tokyo

2. Osaka

3. Moscow

4. Geneva

5. Hong Kong

6. Zurich

7. Copenhagen

8. New York

9. Beijing

10. Singapore

Mercer’s, in their studies for expatriate cost of living, tabulates these costs for 143 cities in 65 continents and published their results each year. New York is used ars the base city and is given a score of 100. Using that base, Tokyo, for example, scores 143.7 and is almost three times as expensive as Johannesburg, which has an index of 49.6 and is one of the most reasonable places to live.

The top 5 most expensive cities in the Americas are New York City (8), Caracas, Venezuela (15), Los Angeles (23) White Plains (31) and San Francisco (34), while Asia and Europe dominate the worldly top ten list.

Now, we await the Mercer;s Most Expensive Cities list for 2010–especially in light of volatile currency swings.

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Thinking of buying a well-located $1 million luxury flat in London, Paris or Tokyo? Think you’ll get a bargain?Think again:

1. In London, you’ll get 328 square feet.

2. In Paris, you’ll do better with 522 square feet.

3. In Tokyo, you can really spread out with 594 square feet.

These are averages reported by the most recent issue of Forbes magazine. The weakened dollar against the Sterling, Euro and other currencies has contributed much to a real estate situation where, for example, the U.S. dollar purchases 25 percent less in London than it did just five years ago.

But if the tables are turned, premier areas of the United States are relative bargains for many international real estate buyers. We have a client who recently retired in Belgium, then moved to the San Diego suburbs, and purchased a lovely coastal Encinitas pool home (around 3000 sf) for just under $1 million. This jolly client still chuckles when mentioning that his retirement comes in Euros, which helps to create a very comfortable retirement given current U.S. exchange rates. He also loves that he can play tennis year round. For him, the purchase was a bargain.

This is a situation that might be repeated throughout premier real estate markets in the United States. Excluding a few areas, real estate prices in this country have softened in the last couple of years. An international real estate buyer might be able to purchase a prime property at a substantial discount not only because of weakened market conditions, but also because of the increased purchasing power of his or her native currency.

Given this interesting and favorable set of circumstances, we are actively courting international real estate buyers. Prime U.S. real estate has become a relative bargain for these shoppers. It is a market that cannot be ignored.

by Roberta Murphy

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