Hong Kong still most expensive city for expats: Mercer

Hong Kong retains its place atop the rankings for a third straight year as the world's most expensive city for expats, according to the latest Mercer annual report Tuesday.

The consultancy found Hong Kong, with its sky-high housing costs, was still ahead of 208 other cities while Asia provided six of the top ten -- Turkmen capital Ashgabat notably edging Tokyo out of second spot.

Sixth-placed New York -- up three places -- was the only US entrant to make it into a top ten featuring three Swiss cities -- Zurich (4th), Bern (8th) and Geneva (9th).

Singapore fell meanwhile from third to fifth.

The survey was based on the cost of living in February going into March, when "most countries had not yet been affected by the (Covid-19) crisis.

Here’s the full top 20.

1. Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

2. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

3. Tokyo, Japan

4.Zurich, Switzerland

5.Singapore, Singapore

6.New York City, United States

7.Shanghai, China

8.Bern, Switzerland

9.Geneva, Switzerland

10.Beijing, China

11.0Seoul, South Korea

12. Tel Aviv, Israel

13. Shenzhen, China

14. Victoria, Seychelles

15. Ndjamena, Chad

16. San Francisco, United States

17. Los Angeles, United States

18. Lagos, Nigeria

19. London, United Kingdom

20. Guangzhou, China

Ref: Bangkok Post