Inflation might be the lowest in decades, but relative to the rest of the world, Sydney, and to a lesser extent Melbourne, are becoming more expensive.
Sydney has come in at number 32 in the list of the world's most expensive cities compiled by Numbeo, the world's biggest price aggregation website, up from 41 a year ago. Melbourne is number 64, up from 77.
Hamilton in Bermuda has the world's most expensive cost of living, at 145 per cent of New York costs, compared to Sydney at 91 per cent and Melbourne at 85 per cent.
The prices scraped from websites and reported by volunteers show childcare for one month costs $1922 in Sydney and $1343 in Melbourne compared to $2158 in New York.
One month's rent for a one-bedroom apartment in central Sydney costs $2619, compared to $1746 in central Melbourne, $2870 in central London and $3096 in New York.
So expensive have Sydney rents become that Numbeo rates Sydney as the 16th most expensive place to rent in the world, well up from Melbourne which is the 68th most expensive. Sydney central apartments cost $13,212 per square metre to buy, compared to $8603 per square metre in Central Melbourne, $16,750 in New York and $22,731 in central London.
A Toyota Corolla or equivalent car costs $24,495 in Sydney, $23,507 in Melbourne, $25,811 in New York and a much more expensive $34,562 in London.
The groceries index has Sydney the 52nd most expensive city and Melbourne at the 72nd most expensive. Sydney is more expensive than both Cairns and Darwin, and Sydney and Melbourne are both more expensive than Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Canberra and Brisbane.
Sydney and Melbourne restaurant prices are the 137th and 135th most expensive of the 540 cities surveyed. The cheapest Australian restaurants surveyed are in Cairns and the Gold Coast.
A McDonalds McMeal or equivalent costs about the same in every major city of the world, at close to 10 Australian dollars.
The most attractive Australian city in which to live taking into account wages is Canberra, where a typical ACT wage buys 39 per cent more than a typical New York wage, making Canberra the world's 41st most affordable city.
Melbourne is the world's 103rd most affordable city, Sydney the 141st most affordable, and Hobart Australia's least affordable and the world's 250th most affordable.
Numbeo Cities Index
Cost of living
Australia's most expensive: Sydney
Australia's cheapest: Gold Coast
Rent
Australia's most expensive: Sydney
Australia's cheapest: Cairns
Groceries
Australia's most expensive: Sydney
Australia's cheapest: Gold Coast
Restaurants
Australia's most expensive: Darwin
Australia's cheapest: Gold Coast
Living standard
Australia's highest: Canberra
Australia's lowest: Hobart
Source: numbeo.com
