• calendar_month December 7, 2023
• folder Commercial & Investment Real Estate, Lifestyle

Singapore and Zurich pushed New York from its perch as the world's most expensive place to reside as costs rose at a slower pace in the most populous U.S. city, according to a survey from a division of the Economist Group.

In tying with Zurich for the top spot this year, Singapore has led the list published in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost of Living report for nine of the past 11 years. EIU said its survey, conducted between Aug. 14 and Sept. 11, found that prices rose an average of 7.4% in terms of local currency over the past year in the world’s major cities.

"This is slightly slower than the 8.1% price growth recorded last year, as supply-chain disruptions have eased and interest rates have risen, but remains significantly above the trend in 2017-21," according to the report.

The twice-yearly survey compares more than 400 individual prices of more than 200 products and services in 173 cities relative to prices in New York. The survey included the cost of food, drink, clothing, household supplies, home rents, transport, utility bills, private schools, domestic help and recreation. Costs of living can influence demand for real estate in a particular market.

The EIU said its survey found the least expensive city in which to live is Damascus, Syria, despite its Worldwide Cost of Living basket of goods and services rising by 321% year over year in local currency terms because of the lifting of government subsidies and devaluation of the currency. Iran's capital of Tehran was the second least expensive and Tripoli in Libya ranked third on that basis in the survey.

When it comes to costliest cities, in addition to New York, two other U.S. cities ranked among the top 10 in the survey: Los Angeles at No. 6 and San Francisco at No. 10.

"Although three US cities made the top 10, North American cities have, on average, slipped down our rankings compared with last year, as the region now reports the lowest inflation in our survey," according to the EIU report. "On the other hand, cities in Latin America and western Europe have moved up. Both these regions dominate the list of the fastest-rising cities in our rankings."