Hong Kong shares gold for world’s most expensive city, alongside Paris and Singapore, survey says

Hong Kong and Paris are now tied with Singapore as the world’s most expensive cities to live, according to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Hong Kong moved up three places globally to join Singapore, which has been the world’s most expensive place to live for the last five years. It is the first time that three cities have been tied for first place in the survey.

Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong are all 7 per cent more expensive to live than New York, the benchmark city. The Worldwide Cost of Living survey compares prices of 150 items in 133 cities. Asian cities make up four of the most expensive cities to live, and also four of the 10 least expensive. The report noted a convergence of prices among the world’s top 10 most expensive cities in 2018, while at the same an overall fall in the cost of living worldwide.

Chinese cities remained stable in the rankings, but Southeast Asian cities have become more expensive.

The EIU cited China’s effort to deal with private debt levels as the reason for an expected slowdown in consumption and growth over the next two years. The strength of a currency plays a role in cost of living, and renminbi devaluations could impact relative cost of living, as well as potential impacts from the US-China trade war.