Dublin falls in cost of living rankings

Dublin has dropped out of the world's top 20 most expensive cities due to falling rents and the weakness of the euro, according to a survey released today.

The Worldwide Cost of Living Survey (2009), conducted by consultants Mercer, ranked Dublin as the 25th most expensive of 143 cities, a drop of nine places since 2008.

It found the average cost of renting a two-bed luxury apartment in Dublin was €1,300 a month, compared with €4,227 per month in Tokyo, the most expensive city.

The cost of living in London has also fallen as the city fell from third to 16th due to the weakness of sterling. The cost of renting an equivalent flat there was €2,704, per month, according to the survey.

A cup of coffee in Dublin costs €3 on average which is more than in London, Rome, Amsterdam, Madrid or Vancouver, but less than New York where it costs $4.90 (€3.43).

The analysis is conducted by Mercer to help multinational companies estimate pay rates for international employees.

The annual survey uses New York City as a benchmark for comparing the prices of more than 200 items, including housing, food, transport and entertainment.

A survey of quality of living conducted by Mercer earlier this year also ranked Dublin at 25th,although this placed it ahead of Tokyo, London, New York, Barcelona and Paris.

Noel O'Connor, senior consultant at Mercer, said over the last year many currencies, including the euro and sterling, had "weakened considerably against a strong US dollar, causing a number of European cities to plummet in the rankings".

The stronger dollar means it is now more expensive for companies based in Europe to send staff to work in cities in the US, according to Mercer.

Tokyo was given an index score of 143.7 points meaning it is nearly three times as costly a city to live in as Johannesburg, ranked 143rd with a score of 49.6. Dublin's index score was 87.4.

Five of the top 10 ranked cities are in Asia, with Beijing climbing 11 places to ninth spot, one above Singapore, which rose from 13th. Hong Kong gained one place to fifth.

Switzerland and Japan each had two cities in the top 10.

The weakness of sterling led to some steep falls for British cities with Glasgow and Birmingham falling 60 and 59 places respectively, to 129th and 125th in the rankings.

Many Middle Eastern cities climbed in this year's rankings, as the United Arab Emirates dirham is fixed to the US dollar.

Dubai rose to 20th place from 52nd, and Abu Dhabi advanced to 26th position from 65th. Tel Aviv was the most expensive city in the Middle East although it fell to 17th from 14th in the rankings.

Top 20 for 2009 (2008 rank in brackets )

1Tokyo, Japan (2)

2Osaka, Japan (11)

3Moscow, Russia (1)

4Geneva, Switzerland (8)

5Hong Kong, Hong Kong (6)

6Zurich, Switzerland (9)

7Copenhagen, Denmark (7)

8New York, US (22)

9

Beijing, China (20)

10Singapore, Singapore (13)

25Dublin, Ireland (16)

Additional reporting Bloomberg