Tel Aviv most expensive city in Mideast, No. 17 in world

While the majority of European cities have fallen in the ranking, most Middle Eastern cities apart from Israel have experienced a reverse trend.

By SHARON WROBEL
Tel Aviv property 88 224 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Tel Aviv property 88 224
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Tel Aviv is the 17th most expensive city to live in and has a higher cost of living than Dubai, according to a worldwide cost of living survey by Mercer, a human resources and financial services firm. Tel Aviv is the most expensive city in the Middle East for the third-straight year, although it is the only one in the region to move down in the ranking compared to last year's survey, from No. 14 to No. 17. Tokyo knocked Moscow (No. 3) off the top spot in the 2009 survey, becoming the world's most expensive city, followed by Osaka in second place. While the vast majority of European cities have fallen in the ranking, most Middle Eastern cities apart from Israel have experienced a reverse trend. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have risen significantly in the ranking, moving from No. 52 to No. 20 and No. 65 to No. 26. "As a direct impact of the economic downturn over the last year, we have observed significant fluctuations in most of the world's currencies, which have had a profound impact on this year'sranking," said Nathalie Constantin-Métral, a senior researcher at Mercer. "Many currencies, including the euro and British pound, have weakened considerably against a strong US dollar, causing a number of European cities to plummet in the rankings. "As most European currencies have weakened against the dollar, it has become more costly for companies based in this region to send expatriates and their families to US cities." The majority of European cities moved down in the ranking, with Warsaw experiencing the most dramatic change, plummeting 78 places from No. 35 to No. 113. London and Oslo, which were in the top 10, have dropped 13 and 10 places respectively. The same trend can be seen in Australia, New Zealand and India. Sydney dropped 51 places, from No. 15 to No. 66, and Mumbai fell to No. 66 from No. 48. "The decline of rental prices both in Oslo and London, coupled with the fall in the value of British pound and Norwegian krone against the US dollar, have caused these cities to plummet in the ranking," Constantin-Métral said. New York, which last year had a lower cost of living than Tel Aviv, is a new entry in the top 10, jumping from No. 22 to No. 8, and so is Beijing, now No. 9, up from No. 20. The survey covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. Top 20 costliest cities No. 1 . . . . . . Tokyo No. 2 . . . . . . Osaka No. 3 . . . . . . Moscow No. 4 . . . . . . Geneva No. 5 . . . . . . Hong Kong No. 6 . . . . . . Zurich No. 7 . . . . . . Copenhagen No. 8 . . . . . . New York No. 9 . . . . . . Beijing No. 10 . . . . . .Singapore No. 11 . . . . . . Milan No. 12 . . . . . . Shanghai No. 13 . . . . . . Paris No. 14 . . . . . . Oslo No. 15 . . . . . . Caracas No. 16 . . . . . . London No. 17 . . . . . . Tel Aviv No. 18 . . . . . . Rome No. 19 . . . . . . Helsinki No. 20 . . . . . . .Dubai