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DUBLIN HAS BEEN ranked as the most expensive city in the eurozone in terms of the cost of living for expatriate workers.
According to an annual global survey from human resources consultancy Mercer, the capital has moved up 34 places from last year, rising from 66th position to 32nd overall.
It has overtaken Paris, which was the most expensive eurozone city in last year’s survey, and also ranks higher than Milan, Vienna, Rome and Amsterdam.
Out of 375 cities across the world, Hong Kong was named as the most expensive city for employees working abroad, followed by Tokyo, Zurich, Singapore and Seoul.
Hong Kong is the most expensive city for expats Shutterstock
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Cost pressures
According to Mercer, factors such as housing markets, inflation and fluctuating prices for goods and services are impacting the cost of doing business in cities around the world.
Noel O’Connor, senior consultant at Mercer, noted that every city in the eurozone has risen in the rankings due to the relative strength of the euro against the US dollar, but Dublin has come out on top because of rising rents.
“The survey identifies cost pressures on expatriate rental accommodation in Dublin as the key driver of this and this in turn reflects the growth of the economy with continuing high levels of foreign direct investment,” he said.
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The average rent for properties across Ireland has hit a new record high, with costs by far at their highest in the capital.
A separate survey by ECA International earlier this month ranked Dublin as the 48th most expensive city for expatriate workers. However, this report did not take rental accommodation prices into account.
Cost of living
Mercer’s survey compares the price of more than 200 goods and services in each city, including housing, transportation, food, clothing and entertainment.
Although this year’s top five is dominated by Asian cities, there are a number of European cities from outside the euro currency bloc featured in the top 20, namely Bern, Geneva, Copenhagen, Moscow and London – which rose from 29th place to 19th.
At the other end of the scale, the least expensive cities for expatriates are Tashkent, Tunis and Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek.
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@Rhona Quinn: wouldn’t worry about it. The phrase NIMBY gets tossed around like snuff at a wake on these articles. It’s very trendy to be pro-development these days, usually from people who don’t know what they’re talking about.
You wouldn’t think we have a major housing crisis. And most of the congestion is caused by long density, car dependent housing as well as lack of supply closer to the city centre forcing people to commute.
I’m from the area, a lot of the traffic is school traffic for people who live near enough to walk or cycle. To many people feel entitled to use their car when they don’t need to. The kids are fat enough already.
@Paul Moran: I’m also from the area and two of the three schools are primary schools. With zero cycling infrastructure I wouldn’t feel safe letting younger kids cycle in. Besides, traffic is still heavy even when the schools are off
Plus there’s the planned developments of the old model school across the road from Glasnevin motors and the Addison lodge just 400 metres down the road. Throw in the build going on at the Smurfit factory and that’s an absolutely huge amount of development going on in an area that struggles to cope already
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