Apartment rentals: the most expensive cities in the world

International consultancy agency ECA International designed the list of the most expensive cities in the world in terms of housing rental. ECA International is a company, which core competence is staff management. Therefore, the data published in the ECA International report are related primarily to housing rental for those working in other cities under contract.

According to ECA International the most expensive apartment rental today are in Tokyo. To rent a two-room apartment in the capital of Japan you have to spend over 4000 dollars per month. The average cost of renting an apartment in Tokyo was $4.352. The main reason for the growth is strong yen, which overcame a 15-year upper limit against dollar in November 2010.

Moscow is next in the list. The most expensive city in Europe offers two-room apartments at an average price of $3,500. In 2010, rise in prices for Moscow housing were amounted to about 17%.

The Russia's capital is followed by another "Asian tiger" - Hong Kong. Renting of a two-room apartment in Hong Kong would cost 2,830 dollars per month. In Hong Kong rental rates have increased by 22% compared with 2009. The growth has allowed Hong Kong to rise to the third place from the sixth place, which it occupied in 2009.

Only the fourth, relatively modest place is occupied by London. The fifth place holds another representative of Asia - Singapore. Here the cost of renting of a two-room apartment will cost $2,810 per month.

World's ten most expensive apartment rentals are following:

* 1. Tokyo
* 2. Moscow
* 3. Hong Kong
* 4. London
* 5. Singapore
* 6. Caracas
* 7. Abu Dhabi
* 8. Bogota
* 9. San Francisco
* 10. Geneva

This year list has undergone significant changes. So, the list of top 10 cities of the world with the most expensive rentals doesn’t include Paris. Renting an apartment in Paris today would cost "only" 1650 euros per month – it was enough for the 11th place, but it is obviously not enough for the top ten.

Thus, the main trend of the current rating has been an increase of rent in many Asian cities. The top five includes 3 Asian cities. In addition, significant increase in rent was shown by Beijing and Shanghai, which took 24 and 25 places respectively. The overall increase of rental prices in Asia was 19%.

As for Europe, there figures differ from country to country. For example, renting rates in Madrid and Athens went down compared with 2009. At the same time, Russia, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland were marked by the rise in housing rental prices.

Among the cities that were considered in the rating, the cheapest rental costs were in Karachi (Pakistan). Here two-room apartment can be rented at an average price of 256 dollars per month. In total ECA International dealt with rental prices in 120 cities around the world.