Vancouver ranks 142nd on consulting company's cost-of-living index for expats

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      Residents of Vancouver have often been told that they live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

      But an international consulting company's 22nd annual cost-of-living survey has put Canada's third largest metropolis far down the list for expats.

      Mercer ranked Vancouver as 142nd most expensive city for employees from other countries on international assignments. That was a drop of 23 places, which Mercer attributed to the fall in the Canadian dollar.

      Vancouver remained one spot ahead of Toronto but fell behind Lima, Colombo, Kigali, Athens, Tashkent, Bratislava, and Belfast, among scores of other cities. Montreal came 155th and Toronto was 162nd.

      "These rankings indicate differences in cost of living factors affecting expatriates in popular assignment destinations," Mercer states on its website. "Because many complex and dynamic factors are involved in calculating an assignment pay package, these rankings should not be used as the basis for determining compensation."

      The index looks at the cost in U.S. dollars of renting a home, buying a pair of blue jeans, being served a cup of coffee, purchasing a litre of gasoline, and other expenses.

      The top 10 cities on the list for expats' cost of living were: Hong Kong, Luanda, Zurich, Singapore, Tokyo, Kinshasa, Shanghai, Geneva, Ndjemena (the capital of Chad), and Beijing.

      A two-bedroom unfurnished apartment "of international standards in an appropriate neighbourhood" costs US$6,809.47 per month in Hong Kong. That compares to US$6,700 in Luanda, and US$4,002.60 in Tokyo.

      In Vancouver, Mercer pegged the cost of an unfurnished two-bedroom apartment in an appropriate neighbourhood at US$1,737.80. This is far below the cost of US$2,700 in Buenos Aires, US$4,200 in Moscow, or US$5,100 in New York.

      Being served a cup of coffee will set you back US$7.77 in Hong Kong and US$6.87 in Beijing, but only US$3.61 in Vancouver.

      However, Vancouver's price of US$2.53 for a litre of pasteurized whole milk was more than double the price in Moscow, New York, and Luanda, but still cheaper than the US$3.53 charged in Beijing.

      Being served a cup of coffee costs nearly US$8 in Hong Kong.
      Julius Schorzman

      The highest ranking U.S. city was New York at number 11. Shenzhen was 12th and Guangzhou was 18th, which meant five of the top 20 were in China.

      “The strengthening of the Japanese yen pushed Japanese cities up in the ranking,” Mercer's Nathalie Constantin-Métral explained in a news release. “However, Chinese cities fell in the ranking due to the weakening of the Chinese yuan against the U.S. dollar.”

      Africa had five of the top 20 on the list, and four of the top 20 were in Europe: Bern tied Lagos for 13th and London ranked 17th. Dubai had the highest cost of living for expats in the Arab world, coming 21st.

      The second- and third-highest U.S. cities for expats were San Francisco at 26 and Los Angeles at 27. Seattle leaped 23 places higher this year to reach 83rd. Portland was 117th.

      Unlike this global study by Mercer, the oft-quoted Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey only examines cities in nine countries.

      The most recent Demographia report found that Vancouver residential real estate was third-most expensive in comparison with incomes, ranking only behind Hong Kong and Sydney.

      While Hong Kong topped both the Mercer and Demographia lists, Sydney came 42nd in Mercer's cost-of-living rankings for expats.

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