Mitt Liv I Oz

Sydney has again been named Australia's most expensive city.

Sydney has been ranked the seventh most expensive city in the world in a cost of living survey of 130 cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit, compared with sixth last time.

"The cost of living in Sydney is now almost 50 per cent higher than that of global business centre New York – while a decade ago Sydney was more than 25 per cent cheaper than New York," Worldwide Cost of Living report editor Jon Copestake said from London.

"The cost of a loaf of bread in Sydney has almost doubled in the past decade in US dollar terms, while petrol prices have risen threefold and rice prices have almost quadrupled," Mr Copestake said.

While Melbourne basks in the title of the world's most liveable city (according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Liveability Ranking), the privilege of living in Melbourne comes at a high price. Melbourne has been ranked the eighth most expensive city in the world.

The cost of living survey compares hundreds of prices across 160 products and services, including food, clothing, rent, transport, utility bills and recreational costs.

The survey has been carried out for 30 years and uses New York as the base city for comparison.

Rankings for other Australian cities include Perth 12, Brisbane 13 and Adelaide 17.

The report found the cost of living in the five Australian cities was higher than cities such as London, Rome, New York, Berlin, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Rio de Janeiro.

"Exchange rates have been the greatest influence for the Australian cost of living, with the Australian dollar seeing its value relative to the US dollar double in a decade, although local price inflation, especially last year, has also played a part," Mr Copestake said.

The three most expensive cities in the world to live in are Zurich, 1, up from five last year; Tokyo, 2, down from 1 and Geneva, 3, up from 9.

The world's least expensive cities included, Dhaka, Algiers and New Delhi.

The 10 most expensive cities are:

1. Zurich  (Switzerland)
2. Tokyo  (Japan)
3. Geneva (Switzerland)
4. Osaka Kobe (Japan)
5. Oslo  (Norway)
6. Paris  (France)
7. Sydney  (Australia)
8. Melbourne  (Australia)
9. Singapore  
10. Frankfurt  (Germany)