The Swiss private bank Julius Baer has made the first rating of the most expensive cities in the world for billionaires. Moscow ranked 23rd
Moscow was ranked 23rd in a new ranking of the world’s most expensive cities for billionaires, made by the Swiss bank Julius Baer, taking into account the prices of luxury goods and services. Hong Kong was the most expensive city for people who are used to the most refined in everything from cars to whiskey, from cosmetic surgeries to personal trainers. Two other Asian cities, Shanghai and Tokyo, were in the top three.
They are followed in the top ten by New York, Singapore, Los Angeles, London, Taipei, Zurich and Monaco.
In compiling the Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2020, Julius Baer examined the prices of 20 major luxury goods and services in 28 cities around the world.
All luxury goods and services were broken down into five categories: home (real estate, cars and pianos), daily life (business-class airfare, hotel suites, fine dining, fine wine, whiskey), fashion (women’s shoes, men’s suits, jewelry, watches, women’s bags), family (boarding schools and universities, lawyer fees, wedding banquet costs) and health (beauty salons, laser vision correction, personal training).
In terms of prices for luxury goods and services, Moscow was far from the leader, showing a good price/quality ratio for most items and services in the index. The bank notes that the Russian capital offers visitors with tight wallets good prices, including luxury hotel rooms and wellness services, luxury cars and business-class airline tickets. Good prices also persist in the expensive real estate market, even though they rose in 2019 due to the repatriation of wealth to Russia from London, the ranking authors write. The bank estimates the Russian luxury market at $5.4 billion and forecasts an annual growth rate of 3 percent.
Moscow was only in the top two categories, ranking third for jewelry and expensive wine. The price of Cartier Love bracelet in the Russian capital is $48,993 (Rio de Janeiro is leading in this category – $54,852, while Hong Kong is on the last line – $42,228). A bottle of wine Chateau Lafite Rothschild in the Russian capital will cost $1865 (in Rio de Janeiro – $2252, in Jakarta – $543).
Moscow has the lowest prices for Steinway & Sons pianos – $176,060 (in Taiwan – $284,877) and laser eye surgery – $ 763 (in London, the leader in this category, by comparison, – $6197). And almost the cheapest – flights to the Russian capital in business class ($2631).
For the price per square meter in the most expensive apartments, Moscow was in 15th place – $14,214 (in Monaco – $89,240). For the price of a luxury car BMW 7 Series is in 21st place – $118,216 (in Singapore – $371,428, in Vancouver – $93,117). A dinner at a restaurant with two Michelin stars costs $142 in Moscow ($331 in Paris), a hotel suite costs $540 ($1594 in Tokyo), a Diorama handbag costs $3540 ($3062 in Monaco), Christian Louboutin New Simple Pumps shoes for women are $853 ($718 in Monaco).
Relatively cheap in Moscow the bank considers services of a personal trainer (the price of a subscription to the club plus 50 private workouts) – $1821 (in New York – $10 340) and visits to beauty salons (Botox around the eyes) – $91 (in Milan – $445). Moscow came close to the top ten in prices for a wedding ceremony – $84,079, while in New York it costs $218,213.
Julius Baer notes that the most expensive region for billionaires is Asia, the most sparing for their wallets – Europe. The bank also calculated that if three people from Zurich, Singapore and New York wanted to fly on a trip and bring eight luxury items in their luggage at the best prices, the cheapest cities for them would be Sydney, Vancouver and Frankfurt.