Singapore now the world's most expensive city ?

[MAN Flyer]

From 15th five years ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26412821

And they still keep letting the people pile in.....

[jjpb3]

From 15th five years ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26412821

And they still keep letting the people pile in.....

I feel for the Singaporeans left behind in all this.

[CarbonMan]

IMO, the reports is a tad hyped.

At the end of the day, as consumers, we have a choice. We can go eat at a Michelin-star restaurant and pay $50 for a plate of vegetables or go to the hawker centre and pay $4. To get from point A to point B, we can choose to buy a half-million dollar open-top two-seater or take public transport. We can choose to stay in an apartment in Nassim Hill or one in East Coast. Last but not least, we can can choose to fly SQ for our holidays or AK.

If we choose the former in every one of the above, sure, Singapore is indeed very, very expensive relative to the world. The latter choice, while not the cheapest in the world, is mostly affordable.

Based on the price comparisons published by EIU, we should eat bread in Singapore, save up and fly to Paris for wine, Caracas to drive a gas-guzzling monster truck and smoke in Tokyo.

[scooby5]

I hate to bang on the same drum, but when Thai offer First Class fares to Europe at ~S$6k on their A380 against SQ's ~S$8k there is a fundamental flaw in the system that, outside SQ, is repeated by many corporations.

Whilst hotel prices in HKG have remained reasonably stable, for example, over the last 15yrs, those here have easily doubled.

Clothes/Shoes sold here are twice as costly as the exact same ones from the exact same stores in the UK, and probably more so in comparison to the US.

I agree with jjpb3 though, given salaries have not gone up significantly, the increase from 15th to 1st is hurting a lot of people. Local reports try to pass off the impact as only on foreigners given the EIU is 'intended for use by HR Managers and foreign companies to determine salary levels for staff postings' but honestly speaking, that's a load of BS.

[milehighj]

I really don't get all these people who try to explain it all away by saying things like "you can eat for less, blah blah..." That's not the point at all.

Take 3 examples:

- Family A earns $2,500/mth, takes public transport, eats in hawker centres;
- Family B earns $10,000/mth, has a car, mortgage, cooks at home and eats out occasionally;
- Family C earns $50,000/mth, spends and consumes pretty much as they like.

In each of the three examples, the cost-of-living has increased dramatically, far outstripping their natural incremental income.

One can generally survive/adjust by spending or consuming less, or downgrading, but that isn't the point. One can always downgrade from F to J, from Ritz Carlton to Marriott, from taxi to bus, from gourmet burgers to McDonalds. The fact is all-of-the-above have gone up in price by a large factor over the past years.

So it is absolutely true that Singapore has become a ridiculously expensive place, whether one is wealthy, middle class or poor - and thus the EIU is quite believable in their contention that it now has the highest cost-of-living in the world.

[HUGE AL]

I knew something was amiss when I was looking at condos 4 years ago.

[Kyo]

We can choose to stay in an apartment in Nassim Hill or one in East Coast.

Hey! East Coast living is da bomb!

Yes, we live in a bloody expensive place, I keep telling myself flying to BKK on the weekend actually saves me money. Especially when not paying for silly hotel limousines...

I was, however, trying a couple of weeks go to spend as little over the weekend as possible, and managed to average $70 each day over Saturday and Sunday. It was quite the exercise in frugality and I was quite proud of myself.

[scooby5]

I was, however, trying a couple of weeks go to spend as little over the weekend as possible, and managed to average $70 each day over Saturday and Sunday. It was quite the exercise in frugality and I was quite proud of myself.

I'm trying to figure out what level of sarcasm is involved in that one, or what you think is frugal? Certainly not two pints of the black stuff.

[SQtraveller]

post deleted

[scooby5]

If it were solely geared to expat living styles and expenses, it would agree with an alternative survey that marks Angola as the most expensive place to live due to high costs of security, at home, at school and at work.

[SQtraveller]

If it were solely geared to expat living styles and expenses, it would agree with an alternative survey that marks Angola as the most expensive place to live due to high costs of security, at home, at school and at work.

post deleted

[MAN Flyer]

Still number one !!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31689124