Hong Kong has been ranked as the second most expensive city in the world to live luxuriously, according to the Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2024 by Swiss private banking group Julius Baer.
The annual report is designed to capture the ‘cost of living extremely well’ and analyse the cost of goods and services that represent such a lifestyle in 25 cities around the world. The study provides an overview of how much it could require to maintain a high-net-worth lifestyle across these major urban centres.
Singapore has maintained its position in top spot since the 2023 index, with Hong Kong rising one spot to second place. Even though prices in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region have decreased, the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region has become more expensive due to currency conversions to the US dollar. London has returned to the ranks of the top three, pushing Shanghai down into fourth spot. Falling prices in some cities like Tokyo means that the APAC region is no longer the most expensive overall.
Julius Baer also notes some interesting trends within affluent expenditure. In Hong Kong, the cost of hotel suites has risen 22.7 percent since last year, while women’s shoes have gone up in price by 12.6 percent. In contrast, the price of whisky has fallen 18.9 percent, so perhaps it’s a good time to invest in some premium bottlings. The most significant price change within the APAC region as a whole is the 14 percent fall in the cost of business class flights, which is the largest decrease within any category in this year’s report – though they also note that this was held in comparison to the sky-high air fares that Asian passengers were paying in 2022 and early 2023.
Overall, price increases have slowed from six percent to four percent since last year across Julius Baer’s index of goods and services, but Singapore remains the most expensive city for spending, especially on cars, private property, and health care.
Here are the 10 most expensive cities to ‘live extremely well’ in 2024:
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- London
- Shanghai
- Monaco
- Zurich
- New York
- Paris
- São Paolo
- Milan
Want to see the full report? Visit juliusbaer.com for more information.
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