Bright, brash, provincial – but we're still world-beaters
Hardly a week goes by without another international survey rating how our capital cities compare with the rest of the world.
The us-versus-them notion always gets ready headlines.
But of course the real rivalry lies between our capital cities, and sometimes even the boardrooms of the country get caught in the crossfire.
The latest international survey had Sydney jumping 10 places to be the 14th most expensive city for expatriates to live, ahead of London and New York, according to Mercer’s annual cost-of-living survey.
Collectively we perhaps smugly like the idea of ripping off international semi-permanent residents to our capital cities, but the bit about outdoing New York and London does seem to be stretching credulity.
The business consultancy survey revealed all the Australian cities recorded dramatic shifts in ranking as the Aussie dollar gained almost 14% against the US dollar.
Melbourne moved from 33rd to 21st and Perth surged 30 spots to number 30.
Up 44 places to 46 was Adelaide. It was Australia’s highest riser, apparently due to a dramatic increase in rental prices where market supply was extremely low, which would please South Australian property investors.
The survey, which covers 214 cities across five continents, still uses New York as the base city, with all other locations compared against it, which takes some of the sheen off our elevated , but probably transient status.
And Australian cities remain among the most affordable destinations across the Asia-Pacific region, Mercer notes.
Last week it was that rising Australian dollar, and increasing house prices, that meant Australia outdid New York again. Australia claimed four of the world's 15 most expensive cities to live in, according to the global living cost survey of 133 cities released by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Four Australian cities are now costlier than London, Rome, Berlin, Hong Kong and Beijing.
Sydney jumped from 32nd place just two years ago to sixth spot on the list, with Melbourne up from 38th to seventh, with overall living costs some 40% higher than New York.
Perth and Brisbane, which are almost 25% more expensive than New York, are ranked 13th and 14th.
The Australian cities' rankings have rocketed sharply over the past decade. Sydney ranked 71st most expensive in 2001 with Melbourne 80th, Perth 91st and Brisbane at 93rd with survey author Jon Copestake saying the strength of Australia's dollar was partly to blame for soaring living costs given it has climbed by about 120% against the US dollar, after bottoming out at US48.4c in 2001.
Any collective pride in our international positioning belies the internal rivalries.
It seems even Australian corporates get bogged down with capital city rivalry, as revealed in a confidential Westpac Bank board briefing.
The leaked document described Melbourne as a “provincial global community” and Sydney as ''bright and brash''.
Probably a fair call.
The journalist who wrote the expose was Eric Johnston, the banking writer for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He ought know the not-so-subtle differences, as he divides his time between the two cities.
