Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - Gas
Residents of some of Australia's biggest cities are facing some of the highest living costs in the world, the Economist Intelligence Unit has found.
With gas prices and other utilities on the rise for many homeowners, it is perhaps not surprising that Australians are finding the cost of day to day living hard to cope with.
Sydney ranked in seventh position in the list, followed by Melbourne in eighth place.
Perth, on the other hand, was named the 13th most expensive to live in the world, while Brisbane took 14th place and Adelaide 18th.
"Exchange rates have been the greatest influence for the Australian cost of living, with the Australian dollar seeing its value to the US dollar double in a decade," commented survey editor Jon Copestake.
The poll looked at 130 cities across the world, comparing the price of 400 items across 160 products, such as rent, clothing, transport and private education.
Mr Copestake also pointed out that the desirability of a city can impact its cost of living rating.
Other global cities to feature in the rundown included Zurich in first place, which overtook Tokyo for the first time in 20 years.
The latest Mercer Cost of Living survey released in March 2011 found that Sydney had climbed ten places in the rankings to take 14th position.
Posted by Callum Fleming