Thread: Moscow has become the most expensive city in the world

I was looking for a forum to place my information in and dwelled on this one. (Among the five presented)

Moscow is the most expensive city in the world. Such are the results of the research conducted by the consulting firm Mercer. Blah-blah-blah... as the BBC reports.

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/ws/thread.j ... eadID=1515

What does that mean? That a bottle of coke costs twice more than one in Paris?

I never loved Moscow. Saint-Petersburg pwnz!

I think i'll have to disagree with you. I'm not sure how Mercer conducted the study - but as an American visiting Moscow I found it to be a lot cheaper than many American cities. I recently spent about $4000 to live in Moscow for about 5 months, which included the price of a flat as well as approximately 12 hours of tuition. In NYC alone living for five months would easily run you $6000-$7000 (and thats if you never go out).

tdk

I think i'll have to disagree with you.

Actually it was not me, it was just a report from the BBC and a short forum down there that provided opinions.

Strange rating.

1 sq. meter cost varies from district to district of Moscow so greatly that it covers nearly all price niches starting from cheapest in the world ending with greatest.

So does the price for a cup of espresso, starting from 12 roubles per cup and ending with 400 (the largest price I had to pay once). Correspondingly (0.45 ~ 13 USD)

Originally Posted by Ramil

Strange rating.

1 sq. meter cost varies from district to district of Moscow so greatly that it covers nearly all price niches starting from cheapest in the world ending with greatest.

So does the price for a cup of espresso, starting from 12 roubles per cup and ending with 400 (the largest price I had to pay once). Correspondingly (0.45 ~ 13 USD)

This is something that I and Ramil actually agree on for a change. I would say, that, yes, if you measure the extremes of a city, Moscow may be near the top. But I think in comparison with the US, you have a much wider range of living in Russia -- you can live extremely cheaply if you wish (or you can basically spend as much money as you want). I think in the US we probably have a bit smaller gap, in terms of how much you have to spend to support yourself. I think it's easier to live in a more spartan sense in Russia if you wish to (or more likely, have to). SPb was similar to what Ramil said -- a tourist/student could get by on maybe 20 bucks a day, if they chose to rough it (hostel/extremely basic hotel, simple meals, public transit, arguing for the student rate at museums, etc.). You could also spend hundreds (or even thousands) per day if you felt like it -- Grand Hotel Europe (complete with the $5 Wall Street Journal Europe ), Nevskii Restaurants, Hyrdofoils to Peterhof, paying the "Non-Russian" price at Hermitage, etc.

I guess when I think of an expensive city, it doesn't mean how much I could possibly spend there, but the amount that I have to spend simply for living. As Ramil and Barmy pointed out, in Moscow you can make a very expensive lifestyle for yourself, or if you don't have as much money you can live cheaply. I think that even living cheaply in a city such as NY would be a lot more than living cheaply in a city such as Moscow. I guess it all depends on how you look at "expensive".

tdk

Read the whole article (well, abridged) here:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13550576/

“It reflects a much bigger demand for palatable housing for someone coming into Russia trying to replicate the housing they had at home,”


It's not talking about poor slobs like us...

Mercer data set is a peculiar one, I am familiar with it. It computes costs of living for a typical international executive -- someone who may be sent to Moscow from Japan, from India, from NYC -- and would want to enjoy the same high standard of living anywhere. A reasonable lower bound on the annual income of such a person would be something like ~$90000, and of course her consumption basket is the same across all the countries.

This is not an estimation of cost of living for an average Moscow resident.

Originally Posted by Бармалей

a tourist/student could get by on maybe 20 bucks a day, if they chose to rough it (hostel/extremely basic hotel, simple meals, public transit, arguing for the student rate at museums, etc.).

A very good estimation. I 'roughed' it a bit as a low-profile tourist while spending ten days in Moscow and St. Pete. I don't believe the budget even exceeded $200.00 the entire time. All is possible when one thinks outside the box if they can only adjust their comfort level and expectations a just little.

Forget fancy joints. Just give me a bed with clean sheets and a room-mate (or two) who walks around with no more than two legs.

In Russia and in Moscow, in particular, the basics are cheaper, however luxurious items are more expensive... Sometime price could be as twice as high... In some cases even more - triple and beyond...