Toronto most expensive city

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Subject: Toronto most expensive city
  Toronto pegged as priciest place to live in Canada
Moscow ousts Tokyo as world´s costliest city

By Eric Beauchesne, CanWest News Service
Published: Monday, June 26, 2006


OTTAWA -- The stronger dollar has made Canadian cities more expensive places to live and work, according to an annual global survey used by employers to determine the compensation they pay their ex-patriot workers.

But Canadian cities remain relatively cheap, indicates the report on the survey results being released Monday by Mercer Human Resources.

Among the five Canadian cities surveyed, Toronto remains the most expensive, and relatively more expensive than a year ago, ranking 47th out of 144 cities around the world, up from 82nd a year earlier.

Ottawa, meanwhile, remains the least costly Canadian city surveyed to locate employees, ranking 90th, but also up from 122nd.

?Canadian cities continue to be cost effective, benefiting from stable inflation but moved up on the list this year, primarily on the strength of the Canadian dollar,? the report said.

The rankings for the other Canadian cities surveyed were Vancouver, which is the second most expensive Canadian city but 56th in the world, followed by Calgary, which is 71st on the list, and Montreal, which is 80th.

The survey covers 144 cities and measures comparative costs for over 200 items, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment, the report noted.

Globally, Moscow is the most expensive city, pushing Tokyo down to second spot, followed by Hong Kong.

Asuncion, in Paraguay, meanwhile, remains the least expensive city.

With New York as the base city scoring 100 points, Moscow scored 123.9, which made it three times as costly a place to live and work as Asuncion which had a score of just 43.5.

The Canadian scores range from a high of 82.6 in Toronto, which means it?s 82.6 per cent as costly as New York, to the low of 75.6 in Ottawa, meaning the cost of living and working in Canada?s capital is only three quarters of what it costs in the Big Apple.

New York remains the most expensive city in North America and moved up the ladder to 10th most costly in the world, in part reflecting increases in value of the U.S. dollar against many currencies, although not the loonie. Other costly U.S. cities are Los Angeles, which was 29th on the list, San Francisco at 34th, and Chicago at 38th.

Washington, which ranks 83rd most costly, is less expensive a place than Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal.

The least costly U.S. city is Winston Salem, N.C., which ranks 124th on the list.
?We have seen significant shifts in the cost of living rankings over the past few years, reflecting a changing global market,? Rebecca Powers, a Mercer consultant said in a commentary released with the report. ?For many companies, it can now be more expensive to send employees to work in Russia or Korea than places like Japan or Switzerland, which are often perceived to be more costly.

?There have been some significant changes in the rankings this year, which are primarily due to exchange-rate fluctuations, in particular the strengthening of the U.S. dollar,? she said.

London is the second most expensive city in Europe and ranks fifth globally. Other costly European cities include Geneva, ranked seventh, Copenhagen eighth and Zurich ninth.

The Euro has weakened against a number of currencies -- for example, the Canadian and U.S. dollars -- reducing the cost of living and working in many European countries, the report noted.
? CanWest News Service 2006

[10-11-2006,16:52]
[***.181.198.246]
sharon
(in reply to: Toronto most expensive city)
Interesting surevey. I´m just thinking in comparing Canadian cities with the U.S. and other non-EU countries, I wonder if the cost of health coverage is factored in. For example, while health care is already factored into the system in Canada as paid for by taxes, it is becoming an increasingly costly burden for American workers. This is especially true for self-employed, small businesses, and corporate employees as well who are seeing their out-of-pocket premiums and deductibles skyrocket every year.
[10-11-2006,20:25]
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Richard
(in reply to: Toronto most expensive city)
from what I read today, yes. It is based on some studies for companies that must relocate staff. All aspects of relocation are factored in - including healthcare.
[10-11-2006,23:11]
[***.121.220.199]
Sharon
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