New Zealand cities remain among the most affordable and attractive destinations in Asia Pacific for expatriates despite a rise in the rankings in Mercer’s 2011 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.

New Zealand has experienced a significant jump in the rankings seeing Auckland move from rank 149 to 118 and Wellington rising 27 places to 136.

Rising costs, due to currency fluctuations and natural disasters have presented challenges for multi-national organisations managing workforces in New Zealand. However, this doesn’t diminish the appeal of New Zealand in the eyes of expatriates or their employers, according to Sarah Barnaby, Senior Associate in Mercer’s information product solutions business in New Zealand.

“Despite a rise in the cost of living, New Zealand remains a highly competitive location for international employers with rankings far below those of other cities in Asia Pacific. Additionally, multi-national organisations are more than likely to absorb any short-term increases associated with relocating staff to New Zealand,” Ms Barnaby said.

“Organisations managing an international workforce should not view costs associated with currency fluctuations in isolation but factor it into the longer-term growth plan for the business,” she said.

Mercer’s annual Cost of Living survey covers 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. It is the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees. New York is used as the base city and all cities are compared against New York.

Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore and Hong Kong remain the most expensive destinations in the Asia Pacific region with Singapore at 8th place and Hong Kong at 9th place.

Globally, Luanda in Angola is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates for the second year running. Tokyo remains in second position and N’Djamena in Chad in third place. Moscow follows in fourth position with Geneva in fifth and Osaka in sixth. Zurich jumps one position to rank seventh, while Hong Kong drops down to ninth.

Across the Tasman, Sydney (14) is up ten places, Melbourne has moved from rank 33 to 21 and Perth has surged 30 places to reach rank 30. Canberra (34) has moved up 40 places and Adelaide (46) is the country’s highest riser, moving 44 places.

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