The Economist Intelligence Unit released its Worldwide Cost of Living 2018 report today which revealed that Sydney has entered the top ten most expensive cities in the world to live in.
According to the release, there was no change at the top, with Singapore once again being crowned the world's most expensive city ahead of Paris.
Sydney has moved up four places since 2017 to tenth position, just a touch behind Israel's Tel Aviv in a list largely dominated by Europe.
What makes Sydney expensive?
Whilst there are around 50,000 prices that are factored into the calculations, one area which is weighted highly is the price of every day purchases such as bread, wine, cigarettes, and unleaded petrol.
Sydney came top of the list when it comes to the price of branded cigarettes with an average price of US$23.89 per pack of 20. As a comparison, the next highest in the top ten was Oslo with an average price of US$13.50. Clearly Sydney is not a place you'd want to move to if you were a smoker. Whereas at US$3.94 per pack, Seoul is a smoker's paradise.
One positive, though, was that Sydney has the lowest cost of unleaded petrol in the top ten with an average price of US$0.98 per litre. Oslo had the highest average price of US$2.02 per litre. I'm sure Caltex Australia Limited (ASX: CTX) would love to see prices more in line with the rest of the top ten.
For the average price of one bottle of table wine (750 ml) Sydney was on the upper side with an average price of US$20.49. As a comparison, wine lovers ought to consider heading to Geneva where the average price was a lowly US$8.37. But perhaps they should stay clear of Seoul and Tel Aviv where the average prices are US$27.02 and US$28.77 per bottle, respectively.
Finally, Sydney fared well with the average price of a kilo loaf of bread. Thanks partly to the price war between Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) and Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), prices in Sydney fell year-on-year to US$3.99 per loaf. Spare a thought for toast lovers in Seoul who have to pay an average price of US$15.59 per loaf.
Foolish Takeaway.
While Sydney may be one of the most expensive cities in the world, I'm sure most readers will agree that its culture, beaches, and opportunities make it worth every cent of it.
