London has been leapfrogged in the league table of Europe’s most expensive places to live by Copenhagen and Paris, as the euro’s sharp rise has sent costs surging across the single currency zone.
After spending several years as the European Union’s costliest city, London has been overtaken by the Danish and French capitals, according to the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Despite its exorbitant house prices, London now comes only tenth in the worldwide league of 125 cities surveyed, down from joint eighth last year. Europe’s most expensive cities still lie outside the eurozone, led by the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
But cities across the single currency area have jumped in the worldwide rankings as the stronger euro has pushed up their relative costs. The weaker dollar has made the US relatively less expensive, with New York dropping out of the global top ten and falling to thirteenth place. Tokyo is still the most expensive city in the world, according to the survey.