Asia Pacific Expat Cost of Living Comparison Rankings July 2015

Hong Kong has retained the top spot (overall most expensive in Asia-Pacific) due to the extremely high housing costs, as well as high cost of schooling and limited space available making rentals high. However, when you exclude costs related to housing, education, medical and transport, Hong Kong falls out of the top ten city rankings for this region. This indicates that Hong-Kong is not the most expensive place for other basket groups. Even though the current Government is committed to promoting economic development, improving people’s livelihood, and taking forward constitutional development for more effective governance, the overall high cost of living has resulted in living standards stagnating.

Xpatulator.com has been conducting research into cost of living and hardship since 2007. The data is used to help companies calculate cost of living and hardship differences so that their employees' purchasing power is maintained while on an international assignment. The cost of living data compares 13 different baskets of goods and services commonly purchased by expatriates in over 780 locations worldwide.

Singapore remains the 2nd most expensive city in the Asia-Pacific region for expatriates and tops the region rankings when costs related to housing, education, medical and transport are excluded.

Shanghai third pushes Tokyo down to fourth place in the Asia-Pacific region. Globally, Shanghai has moved further up the rankings to 15th position – up from last quarters’s 18th spot. Beijing has moved up to 7th position in the Asia-Pacific region, and is now the 32nd most expensive place in the world for expatriates. While the cost of living for local people in China is generally cheaper, as it is possible to buy many items cheaply, Xpatulator.com compares the cost of living for expatriates by pricing internationally recognised quality brands, based on international spending patterns for comparison purposes, in order to make consistent global comparisons. In the past few years international brands and services applicable to expatriates have become more expensive, pushing up the overall cost of living. In addition the strong Renminbi has resulted in the US Dollar price being higher.

Australia see Sydney drop from 4th to 5th in Asia-Pacific, and 22nd globally, after Tokyo regained 4th most expensive place in Asia-Pacific, from Sydney, and 17th place globally. Although the local cost of living in Tokyo has increased as a result of various factors such as consumption tax increases, the impact of the weaker yen has resulted in US Dollar prices staying more or less the same in global terms.

The cheapest Asia Pacific city is Nuku'Alofa in Tonga.

Xpatulator.com has been created to assist subscribers calculate expatriate pay using the online calculators and extensive database of cost of living and hardship indexes, for 780 international locations. The cost of living ranking information is updated quarterly using data collected by Xpatulator.com over the past 12 months. Subscribers use this information to ensure their employee’s spending power is maintained when they are on an international assignment. One way of compensating is through an international assignment package calculation using the build-up approach for detailed salary and allowance calculations. These calculations are affected by differences in the cost of living as well as exchange rate movements between the employee's home and host location.

For more, read a free cost of living review for the following Asia Pacific locations:

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