Survey: Hong Kong rental prices highest in world

Hong Kong is the world's most expensive city to rent accommodation and Asia accounts for five of the top 10 most costly cities to rent, local media cited data from a survey on Wednesday.

According to the survey, an unfurnished three-bedroom apartment in a popular expatriate area of Hong Kong costs approximately 8, 592 U.S. dollars per month on average, 17 percent more expensive than Tokyo, the second in the survey.

The survey, conducted by UK-based consultant ECA International, compares the rental prices of 92 locations worldwide.

High rental prices in Hong Kong can be attributed to a number of factors, including an increasing demand for high-end developments as many financial firms strengthen their presence within the city, ECA said in a statement.

The survey also shows that rental prices of Hong Kong are rising up 10 percent from 2005, with prices in Tokyo increasing by just 1 percent year on year.

"The gap between Asia's two most expensive cities to rent is actually widening," said Lee Quane, General Manager of ECA in Hong Kong.

Comparing rents for typical expatriate apartments, New York was ranked third most expensive, followed by Moscow, Seoul, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Caracas and Paris. Beijing was ranked 11th in the survey.

Source: Xinhua