An annual survey has ranked New York as the most expensive city, a title the US city will share with Singapore, which has topped the list eight times in the last 10 years.
Sydney in Australia, has also snuck into the top 10 for the first time. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual survey, New York was the world’s most expensive city in 2022 amid soaring energy prices and inflation across major cities.
Singapore was the equal-second most expensive city in 2021 and has been No 1 in eight of the past 10 years. This year was the first time the Big Apple has been ranked No 1, The Guardian reported, citing the survey.
While Sydney snuck into the Top 10 and Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia scaled the rankings by as much as 88 places, Tel Aviv dropped to third.
Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, with its 132 per cent price increase in 2022, was well down on the 2019 hyperinflation rate of more than 25,000 per cent but remained too high to be included in the survey.
Apart from gas prices and inflation rates, a stronger currency was also one factor driving cities up the rankings. Six of the eight highest climbers (after the two Russian cities) were US cities, led by Atlanta, which went from 42nd to 46th in the rankings of the 172 cities surveyed. The US dollar has strengthened sharply against almost all currencies as the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates and signaled more rises to come.
Cities in countries where their currency slumped featured among those dropping down the list of most costly cities. Japan’s Tokyo and Osaka were among the 10 biggest drops, ending at 37th and 43rd, respectively, down from 13th and 10th in 2021.
Stockholm and Luxembourg dropped the most, both losing 38 places to 99th and 104th, respectively. Damascus in Syria and Tripoli in Libya retained their slots as the cheapest cities surveyed.