Auckland and Wellington are among the world's top 20 most
expensive cities to live, says an international index.
The Economist intelligence unit has released its worldwide
cost of living survey for 2011, to show both Auckland and
Wellington moving up the ranks to become more expensive.
The survey compares the prices of 160 products and services
such as food, drink, clothing, rent, transport and utility
bills.
Auckland is the most expensive New Zealand city to live in,
and has a 15th global ranking after climbing from 24th in
2010.
Our nation's capital is now placed on par with London.
Wellington moved up 16 notches to settle in as the 17th most
expensive place to live.
Unit editor Jon Copestake told Radio New Zealand today the
cost of living in both New Zealand cities had doubled in the
past decade.
"It's a strange situation I think. New Zealanders won't have
noticed the cost of living bubbling over 10 years, although
they might have seen it creeping up.
He said the increase had been driven by the high exchange
rate and rising inflation.
"We've had inflation which has pushed up the cost of living
over the last couple of years ... and New Zealand would be no
exception.
"But the main issue here is currency movement. The New
Zealand dollar and the Australian dollar have become favoured
currency, they've had a lot of investment in them over the
last couple of years.''
He said although people coming into New Zealand might notice
the high cost of living rate, Auckland and Wellington had
high rates of liveability.
"It's not bad or good press, it's just how it is.''
Zurich in Switzerland now tops the list as the most expensive
city in the world, after taking the spot from Tokyo.
Karachi in Pakistan is the cheapest.
Over the ditch, Australia has a cluster of five cities in the
top 20. Sydney ranked number seven, Melbourne eight, Perth
13th, Brisbane 14th and Adelaide 18th.
Many American cities had dropped, such as Cleveland and
Detroit, while nine cities in China had continued to climb.
"All of the Chinese cities we surveyed are now more expensive
than these cheapest American cities.''
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