Mumbai is the cheapest 'world city' to live in: report

&nbspPhoto Credit:&nbspTimes Now Of 12 cities considered the most cosmopolitan in the world, Mumbai is the cheapest city to live and work in, says Savills World Research.    

"Mumbai is the only city we looked at as it is the only 'world city' in India which shares in the same fame, prominence, international reach and 'investability' as

other global cities such as New York, Hong Kong and Sydney," said Yolande Barnes, director of Savills World Research.     London, Hong Kong and New York are the world's most

expensive cities for companies to accommodate employees. Costs in London, especially, are going through the roof, says Savills World Research.     So what makes London so expensive and

Mumbai so cheap?     "Mumbai's live/work costs are low but it is actually the most expensive city to live and work in relative to productivity, with live/works costs a very high -

five times per head GDP. This reflects the fact that most workers in the city do not live and work in the international-standard accommodation that Savills measures. London, meanwhile, has

the highest live/work costs, but when this is compared to its GDP they are only twice the GDP, meaning that it is relatively cheaper to live and work in than Mumbai," Barnes said.    

In Mumbai, it costs just $29,088 to accommodate an employee, up only 2.4% since 2008. In Shanghai the cost to accommodate an employee has risen 15.6% to $38,089.     The average cost of

living and working in Mumbai has risen over the past seven years, to U$29,088 per year as of June 2015, from US$ 28,394 per year in December 2008. By comparison, other global cities have

seen an increase of only 2.4%, in average cost of living and working.     "With India now likely to outperform China economically in the near future, we anticipate that there will be

even more interest in Mumbai's real estate, leading to the average live/work cost continuing to increase and making Mumbai even less affordable if the GDP doesn't also increase at

a rate that exceeds accommodation costs."     The index, which measures the combined cost of residential and office rental per person per year, shows that London's costs averaged

$118,425 in the first half of 2015, an increase of 20.7% since the index was launched in 2008. This is marginally more expensive than Hong Kong where costs have risen just 0.4 per cent since

2008, and New York, which has seen 28.4% growth.     San Francisco has been the biggest riser, with growth of 59.8% since 2008.     Sydney and Los Angeles offer the best value live/work

rent combination at 70% and 80% of per head GDP respectively, followed by San Francisco.     The average cost per head across the 12 leading world cities in the Savills study is $74,945 per

year, which is 1.4 times the average city GDP per head of population.     Three cities - Tokyo, Dubai and Singapore have all seen live/work costs fall between minus 8% and minus 16.6% over

the period since 2008.  Photo Credit: TOI Archives