New York City is now the world’s fifth most expensive city for luxury living

06/21/2023 / By Arsenio Toledo

New York City is now the fifth most expensive city in the world for luxury living, beating out other notably high-cost locations such as Monaco and Dubai.

This is according to a new report by the Julius Baer Group, a Swiss private banking group that releases the Julius Baer Lifestyle Index, which ranks the world’s most expensive cities for luxury living annually.

According to the survey, New York City jumped six spots up to fifth from 11th place last year due to the significant rise in prices for opulent items and luxury experiences. It is now the most expensive city in the United States and all of the Americas even for the world’s wealthy to live in. (Related: Crime City: New York City records highest number of felony crimes in 16 years.)

Only one other American city made the index’s top 20 – Miami in Florida, which ranks 10th and saw a 22 percent spike in living costs over the past year.

The index is based on a selection of 20 goods and services that Julius Baer Group believes best represents the discretionary spending of high net-worth individuals globally. This includes extravagant, non-essential expenses like jewelry, luxury cars, business-class flight tickets, men’s suits, treadmills, luxury watches, laser-eye surgery and extravagant dinners.

It also measured a variety of other goods and services like residential property prices, private school fees and automobile tax payments in 25 of the most expensive cities across the globe.

The costs of these goods and services dramatically increased in New York City, which is what brought up the city’s position in the ranking.

The survey shows that the purchasing power of even the world’s ultra-wealthy is diminishing and they aren’t immune to the effects of the ongoing inflation crisis, especially if they live in places like New York City where the prices of luxury items and services continue to surge.

For example, the price of drinking whiskey in New York City has risen by 12 percent amid a boom in whiskey bars, including one which serves a drink for $1,300 a glass. The price of handbags has risen by 11 percent, business-class flights by 16 percent and hotel stays are 17 percent more expensive. Tasting menus or degustation dinners are 13 percent more expensive.

Meanwhile, the cost of buying and keeping a luxury car in the city has increased by 41 percent compared to last year.

“While the financial situation of many high net-worth individuals has actually improved over the last year, the concurrent increase in the basket of goods and services that make up our lifestyle index means the ‘money illusion’ of previous years still lingers,” wrote the Julius Baer Group in its report. “[Still], our survey reveals a mildly optimistic post-pandemic picture … [as] the wealthy are spending normally again.”

World’s most expensive cities for luxury living mostly found in Asia

New York City ranks behind Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong and London, and beat out Monaco, Dubai, Taipei and Sao Paulo. Below Miami are Bangkok, Jakarta, Paris, Zurich, Tokyo, Milan, Sydney, Mumbai, Barcelona and Manila.

The Julius Baer Group noted that, according to the list, the world’s most expensive cities for luxury living can mostly be found throughout Asia, a title the continent has held for the fourth straight year.

This means that Europe, the Middle East and Africa are actually the most affordable regions for the world’s ultra-rich to live luxuriously in, and North and South America are quickly catching up with Asia as rampant inflation and poor economic policies continue to batter the United States that even the country’s wealthy are feeling the effects.

Learn more about the collapse of America and its cities at EconomicRiot.com.

Watch this clip of Steve Cortes from Real America’s Voice discussing how President Joe Biden’s economic policies are causing a commercial crisis in New York.

This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com.