London Ranks in Top 10 of World’s Most Expensive Cities

June 17, 2024 TruthUSA

Mercer mentioned that the cost of living has had a ‘significant impact’ on employees, specifically noting the rising housing costs in many cities that are proving to be a challenge for expatriate staff.

London has now made it into the top 10 list of most expensive cities to live in, according to a ranking from the financial services industry.

The British capital has climbed to 8th place, just behind New York City, in Mercer’s 2024 cost-of-living city index released on Monday, a jump of nine places from the previous year.

Hong Kong and Singapore have maintained their positions as the top two most expensive cities from last year, followed by four Swiss cities: Zurich, Geneva, Basel, and Bern. New York City is in seventh place, followed by London, Nassau in the Bahamas, and Los Angeles in the United States.

Mercer, a business under Marsh McLennan, compiles this data to assist multinational businesses in planning compensation packages for employees working overseas and stated that the rise in costs is due to factors such as rental prices and general living expenses.

The firm also mentioned that inflation trends and increasing housing costs have had a “significant impact” on multinational organizations, not only straining compensation packages for staff being relocated to major cities abroad, but also making it challenging for firms to attract and retain employees.

High Living Costs

“The cost-of-living crisis has already had a significant impact on the mobile talent employed by multinational organizations,” Mercer stated in its report.

It further continued, “High living costs have required some assignees to adjust their lifestyles and cut back on discretionary spending. Some employees have even struggled to meet their basic needs.”

Price Movements

In their research, Mercer compared the prices of everyday items, including groceries. In London, the cost of a dozen eggs was 3.6 percent higher in March 2024 compared to the previous year, while olive oil saw a 48.3 percent increase and the price of a woman’s haircut had risen by 7.2 percent.

According to the Institute for Government, cost pressures had been evident since mid-2021 and were driven by various factors such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, depleted gas supplies in Europe, and semiconductor shortages in Asia.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, a major food exporter, was also a significant contributor to price hikes in 2022.

Official data from May 2024 indicated that inflation had dropped to its lowest rate in three years, at 2.3 percent. When Rishi Sunak assumed office as prime minister in October 2022, the inflation rate was at 11.1 percent.

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