London drops to 25th most expensive city Tuesday, 12th June 2012

Photo credit: My Retail Media

London remains within the top 25 most expensive cities in the world, but has been overtaken by a raft of Asian metropolises including Beijing and Shanghai.

The latest results on the cost of living in 214 global cities saw London drop seven places from last year as it was overtaken by a number of Asian and Australian cities.

According to research conducted by consultancy firm Mercer, Tokyo is now the world’s most expensive city, followed by Angolan capital Luanda and Osaka in Japan.

Mercer based the findings on costs experienced by an American visitor. England’s capital city was forced into 25th place as the pound suffered against the US dollar.

Birmingham rose 17 places to 133rd most expensive, while Belfast remained the UK’s least expensive city in the poll, but still jumped 13 places to 165th place.

Mercer's UK head of data and product services, Milan Taylor, said: "Despite price increases on goods and services most UK cities moved down in the ranking this year, following the loss in value of the British pound against the US dollar.

"However, Birmingham and Belfast bucked the trend, moving up mainly because rental costs for expatriates increased a fair bit and price increases in these cities were higher than in say London and Glasgow."

Despite the fall, London is still one of the most expensive leading tourist cities, with New York in 33rd place, Paris falling 10 places to 37th and Rome in at 42nd.

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Posted in Retail Industry Tagged london, most expensive city, beijing, shanghai, asia, Australia, birmingham, belfast