Hong Kong’s high-end apartments are the world’s most expensive to rent, followed by Tokyo and New York, reflecting high living costs in those cities, a survey on expatriate accommodation showed Tuesday.

An executive three-bedroom apartment in Hong Kong costs more than $8,500 a month to rent, according to the survey by human resources consultancy ECA International, based in the United Kingdom.

Rents for typical expatriate apartments in Hong Kong rose an average 10 percent last year and 15 percent in 2005, thanks to the Chinese territory’s robust economic growth, said Lee Quane, general manager of ECA International Hong Kong.

The gap between Hong Kong and other cities was widening, he added.

The survey compared rental prices in 92 locations worldwide, the firm said in a statement.

Tokyo rents for expatriates averaged $7,358 while in New York, they were $7,249.

Moscow was ranked fourth most expensive at $6,526, followed by Seoul, London, Mumbai and Shanghai, the survey found.

The Venezuelan capital of Caracas was ranked ninth as expatriates there need to live in high-security compounds for safety reasons, Quane said. Paris was 10th.

The cheapest location of the 92 cities was Nairobi, Kenya, where a three-bedroom apartment cost about $1,000 a month, the survey said.

Information from: biz.yahoo.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Apartments. Tags: Hong Kong Kenya London Moscow Mumbai Nairobi New York Paris Seoul Shanghai Tokyo United Kingdom Venezuela . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.