There are cities that stand out for their size, others for their diversity, and most for their history. But only a select few of them are part of a special ranking of the world’s most expensive cities that attract people with the highest heritage value. on that list 20 cities remain a Spanish city: Barcelona. Although Barcelona fell three places to 19th place, it still stands shoulder to shoulder with Frankfurt, Dubai and Tokyo due to the strong increase in prices related to entertainment such as spirits, fashion or restaurants. At the general level, Asia is reaffirming its dominance as a center of wealth and lifestyle. Singapore overtakes Shanghai as the world’s most expensive city for the first time, while Hong Kong remains in third place.
Barcelona dropped three places in the rankings due to rising cost of living in Jakarta, Mumbai and Miami, which were below the Catalan capital the previous year. However, there are some luxury services where it stands out compared to other parts of the world. For example, London ranks first in terms of the cost of obtaining a master’s degree, on par with Paris or Zurich. High-end entertainment has become more than 20% more expensive in some industries. Among them, the price of alcohol stands out: wine rose 56% and whiskey 29%. It is followed by women’s bags with an increase of 21% and tasting meals with an increase of 18%. The cost of other accessories such as jewelry (+10%), watches (+8%) and men’s suits (+9%) also increased.
The trips did not change much compared to last year. In Barcelona, the price of a car increased by 7%, the price of a bicycle increased by 2%, and traveling in business class became more expensive by 2%. At the same time, the price of a hotel suite fell 3% and the price of medical tourism, represented in this report as eye surgery, rose 5%. Although the price level settlements Barcelona is the most ‘affordable’ of these cities list. cost increased by 7%. “Price increases for high-end goods and services support the idea that high-income consumers need high single-digit dollar returns on their investments to protect their wealth,” said Christian Gattiker, Julius Baer Research Director.
Asia is the most expensive region
Singapore’s top spot is mainly due to vehicle cost.However, last year it saw a 47% increase in ‘business’ flights, 46% in specialty gym products and 14% in tasting meals. With this city comes nine more from this continent and crowns the ranking. For the first time, Europe became the best place to live, as all cities except Monaco, which held the sixth place, had declined. Zurich is currently in 14th place, as Dubai has moved up to seventh, while London has dropped from second to fourth.
On the other side of the Atlantic, New York moved up from 11th to 5th, while Miami moved up eight places to 10th. in the south, Brazilian metropolis São Paulo enters the top 10 in ninth place for the first time. Santiago de Chile is just around the corner at number 23. In this way, America is positioned as the second most expensive region to live with a decent standard of living.
The report shows an increase in prices and cost of living for consumers worldwide over the past twelve months. In total, Julius Baer calculated: 6% increase in dollar terms, 13% in local currencies due to constantly high inflation rates and rising costs of raw materials, energy, fuel and personnel. And at the same time, demand from consumers with high financial capacity, who were partially suppressed during the quarantine and the development of the pandemic, increased significantly. “These results also support the idea that strong currencies, and especially assets denoted by such currencies (for example, the US dollar or Swiss franc) can help weather these storms and ensure a richer and healthier future,” Gattiker says.