Kriz İstanbul'u ucuzlattı haberi

Yaşam Maliyeti Araştırması, İstanbul'un artık pahalı bir kent olmadığını gösterdi. 143 şehir arasında geçen yıl 23. sırada yer alan İstanbul bu yıl pahalı kentler listesinde 53'üncü sırada kendine yer buldu. Küresel kriz yüzünden dalgalanan dolar kurundan en çok zararı Japonlar gördü.

Dolar, Japon Yeni karşısında değer kaybedince, geçen sene dünyanın en pahalı şehirleri listesinde ikinci sırada gelen Tokyo, birinciliğe yükseldi. 11. sıradaki Osaka da ikinciliğe sıçrayınca, lider Moskova iki basamak birden düştü ve üçüncü oldu. İnsan kaynakları yönetim danışmanlığı firması Mercer, altı kıtada 143 şehri kapsayan 2009 yılı Yaşam Maliyeti Araştırması sonuçlarını açıkladı. Araştırma; her bir şehirde konut, ulaşım, yiyecek, giysi, ev eşyaları ve eğlence dahil olmak üzere 200'den fazla kalemin karşılaştırmalı maliyetlerini ölçüyor. Bu seneki araştırmada, sıralamalarda büyük farklılıkların görülmesinin sebebi, dövizdeki iniş ve çıkışlarla açıklanıyor. Özellikle İngiliz Sterlini ve Euro'nun ABD Doları karşısında değer yitirmesiyle, Avrupa'da birçok şehir bir önceki yıla göre listede farklı noktalarda yer aldı. Avrupa'daki pek çok şehir, sıralamalarda aşağıya inerken; Amerika, Çin ve Ortadoğu'daki şehirlerde ise yukarıya sıçradı.

Küresel kriz yüzünden aşırı dalgalanan dolar, listeyi altüst edince, üç yıl üst üste 'pahalılık şampiyonu' olan Moskova, bu yıl tahtını Tokyo'ya bırakırken, hemen arkasından yine bir Japon şehri olan Osaka ikinci sıraya yerleşti. Listede Hong Kong beşinci, Singapur ise 10. oldu. Yaşam maliyeti en düşük şehir ise Johannesburg oldu.

Kaynak: www.zaman.com.tr / www.cihan.com.tr

Life becomes less expensive in İstanbul for expats as dollar surges

İstanbul is the 53rd most expensive city for expatriates in the world, a Cost of Living survey by Mercer, a global human resources, financial advice, products and services company, has shown.

This rank is a 30-rank improvement over the previous year's results.

Tokyo knocked Moscow off the top spot as the most expensive city for expats, while Johannesburg replaced Asunción in Paraguay as the least expensive city in the ranking. The top 10 of this year's list was largely dominated by Asian and European cities.

Osaka was in the second position, up nine places since last year, while Moscow is now in third place after topping the list for three consecutive years. Geneva climbed four places to fourth position and Hong Kong moved up one to take fifth.

This year's survey has shown big changes in the rankings, which Mercer explained as the impact of significant currency fluctuations and the strengthening of dollar. London, for example, saw a deep reshuffling in its rankings as it dropped 13 places to the 16th spot.

Mercer's Cost of Living survey is conducted in 290 cities across the world and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. It is widely seen as the world's most comprehensive survey on costs of living, which provides good assistance for multinational companies and governments who determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.

The survey takes New York as the base city for the index, giving it a value of 100 points, and then compares the other cities against New York. Similarly, the currency movements are measured against the US dollar.

The euro lost nearly 13 percent against the US dollar and against the currencies pegged to the dollar in the period the survey was conducted, while at the same time the British pound lost more than 26 percent against the dollar.

This year's survey, which spanned a year from March 2008 to March 2009, ended with Tokyo leading the list with a score of 143.7 points, which is nearly three times as costly as Johannesburg, with an index score of 49.6 points.

The period covered in this year's survey marked nearly the worst of the global economic downturn, which had a direct impact on the Cost of Living indices in various locations. The deep oscillations in the currency rates incurred rocking in the rankings.

Mercer acknowledged in a note that its analysts observed a large increase in the prices of basic consumption items and energy in many parts of the world up until September and October of 2008. In the last few months of 2008 and early 2009, however, this trend sharply reversed, with oil prices falling and overall consumer price levels stabilizing, the company asserted.

It had a few remarks on real estate markets, too. Expenditures on real estate rents and home ownership substantially correlate to the overall cost of living for expats in a city and are thus quite important in the decision of choosing the right place to work or do business.

Mercer asserted in a press release announcing the launch of this year's survey that some residential rental markets have been impacted by the credit crisis, causing prices to decrease. Additionally, the stock of properties for rent has increased as many new developments are difficult to sell and property owners decide to rent, the company underlined. "Another reason for falling prices is rising unemployment -- its consequence is decreasing demand," Mercer explained.