Which is the most expensive city for expatriate assignments?

Mercer, a consulting, outsourcing and investment-services firm, released a study that determined most expensive cities in the world as regards to rent housing for employees sent on assignments overseas. The first place in the list was occupied by Moscow with Tokyo and Hong Kong filling the second and third positions respectively. In total the list covers 50 most popular for expatriate assignments cities, reports MarketWatch.

The research was meant to provide multinational companies with information on the cost of rentals for their employees in major commercial centers. According to the report Johannesburg, South Africa, was found to be the least expensive city.

"The world's housing markets have been sliding since 2008, and strong currency fluctuations in the past few months have also had a strong impact on the comparative cost of expatriate housing," said Marie-Laurence Sépède, senior associate and research manager at Mercer.

"The value of the euro has dropped by around 12% against the U.S. dollar since September last year, while the Polish zloty, Mexican peso, Australian dollar, Brazilian real and the British pound have all lost more than 30% in value against the dollar during the same period."

The United States where rent prices are increasing was ranked fifth with New York and 17th with Los Angeles.

"The growing number of foreclosures in the United States is forcing more people to rent houses and apartments," said Rebecca Powers, principal with Mercer, in the release. "However, as unemployment and other economic factors begin to influence the market, rental prices are expected to decrease." 

First top 10 most expensive rental markets for expatriate assignments cover these cities: 

Moscow 
Tokyo 
Hong Kong 
Mumbai, India 
New York City 
Beijing 
Geneva, Switzerland 
New Delhi, India 
London 
Singapore 

The least expensive of the 50 cities in the survey are: 
41. Brussels 
42. Buenos Aires 
43. Budapest, Hungary 
44. Bangkok, Thailand 
45. Stockholm, Sweden 
46. Prague 
47. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 
48. Toronto 
49. Mexico City 
50. Johannesburg

Source: MarketWatch