Melbourne cedes its status as the world’s most liveable city to Auckland

Such is the case with Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria in Australia, whose treasured reputation as one of the world’s most desirable cities in which to live has suffered due to its rocky (to say the least) pandemic.

When The Economist Intelligence Unit published its latest global liveability rankings in June 2021, it reflected what many people had been expecting.

Auckland, New Zealand’s booming capital, was named the world’s most liveable city. Melbourne dropped to eighth spot after eight consecutive years at the top of the list, tied with Geneva in Switzerland and below rival Aussie cities Adelaide and Perth.

Indeed, the ability to contain the spread of the pandemic while maintaining a high quality of life and freedoms for residents was a key factor in Auckland’s ascendancy.

“The progression for Auckland’s rank is predominantly because of New Zealand’s ability to enforce strong border closures and control the spread of the virus effectively,” says Akshay Rathi, a researcher at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

But life in New Zealand has been allowed to continue largely as normal during the pandemic, albeit with periodical restrictions and some of the world’s tightest border controls.

Contrastingly, the policies enacted by Victoria’s Labor state government led by Premier Daniel Andrews have been bitterly divisive.

Melbourne was locked down six times for a total of 263 days. Victoria’s debt burden is anticipated to reach almost AUD200 billion by 2025 on the back of pandemic-related relief and loss of revenue.

“It would be remiss not to acknowledge that government handling of the pandemic was part of The Economist’s Intelligence Unit criteria for assessment in 2021,” says Rob Burgess, national director of research and strategy at property advisory experts Charter Keck Cramer.

“Melbourne’s ability to rebuild its brand and perhaps, more importantly, the attributes which made it so desirable in the first place are highly unlikely in the next two to three years. Beyond that, only time will tell. The current trajectory must be halted to enable a new sense of optimism and confidence.”

Ref: Melbourne cedes its status as the world’s most liveable city to Auckland (propertyawards)