Last week, Swiss private bank Julius Baer released its 2025 Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report. Singapore topped the rankings once again, marking the third consecutive year it has been named the most expensive city in the world for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) to live well.
What may still surprise many Singaporeans is not that we are among the most expensive cities globally, but that we hold the top spot, at least for HNWIs.
Most Singaporeans would agree that living here is costly. Residential property prices are high, and renting is also expensive. Dining out, particularly at restaurants and cafés, has become noticeably more expensive in recent years. Private healthcare can be pricey, and owning a car remains prohibitively expensive.
However, being ranked as the most expensive city in the world to live in is a real concern for Singaporeans, especially since we live in a city-state. Unlike people in London (ranked 2nd), who can choose to live in other parts of the United Kingdom with a lower cost of living, or those in Shanghai (6th), who can relocate to other cities in China if they wish, Singaporeans don’t have the option of moving to a cheaper area within our own country.
Do Average Singaporeans Care About The Same Thing As HNWIs?
Before you start panicking and looking for cheaper Southeast Asian countries to migrate to, it’s important to understand a few key points about this report.
Firstly, the Julius Baer Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report is written for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), people who are in a position to decide which top-tier cities in the world they want to live in. Someone considering a move to the Asia-Pacific region might use this report to compare whether they should live in Singapore, Hong Kong or Shanghai.
The report looks at the cost of goods and services relevant to HNWIs. Some of these, such as cars, bicycles, tech gadgets, and residential property, are things the average local will also buy. But many others, like champagne, business-class flights, and degustation dinners, are luxuries that most people don’t need.
Source: Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2025
As an average person looking at the items in this lifestyle index, we can broadly group them into three categories:
Items that matter to everyone: These include essentials like bicycles, cars, residential property and technology packages. Whether you’re a local or an HNWI, you still need to buy these things.
Items that are important, but locals may not worry about paying for them as much: This includes healthcare, MBAs and private schools. For example, as a Singaporean, the cost of treatment at a public hospital is vastly different from what a non-citizen would pay for the same treatment. Similarly, most of us send our kids to MOE schools, so while they are important, how expensive international schools are doesn’t really affect the average Singaporean.
Pure luxuries: These are items like business-class flights, degustation dinners, hotel suites (and I suppose even hiring a lawyer, if it’s for lifestyle-related legal services) that the average person is unlikely to factor into daily living expenses.
When we focus only on items that matter to the average Singaporean, here’s where Singapore ranks. The ranking is based on a scale of 1 to 25.
| Items | Ranking (1 to 25) | |
| Cars | 1st | We are the world’s most expensive city (and country) to own a car |
| Residential Property | 3rd | Only Monaco and Hong Kong ranked ahead of us for residential property |
| Healthcare | 3rd | Healthcare is expensive but as explained earlier, the cost for foreigners and local seeking treatments in Singapore would be quite different |
| Bicycle | 14th | Not too bad. Don’t think we ever heard anyone in Singapore complain about the cost of bicycle |
| Technology Package | 18th | Technology gadget are relatively affordable in Singapore |
| Treadmill | 21st | Treadmills are probably a proxy for fitness equipment. Relatively affordable in Singapore |
The full list.
Source: Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2025
Foreigners Do Not Enjoy Government Schemes & Subsidies
Another vital point to note is that while Singapore may be ranked the most expensive city in the world for HNWIs (at least based on this report), this doesn’t necessarily reflect what locals pay.
Government schemes and subsidies significantly reduce the cost of living, even if we don’t always appreciate it.
Take education, for example. Private schooling—ranked the 5th most expensive among the 25 cities—is indeed costly in Singapore. But for Singaporean children, education is relatively affordable even as its regarded as one of the best in the world. It’s expensive to run, with thousands of teachers employed by the government, but locals pay only a fraction of the real cost. In other words, education is heavily subsidised in Singapore.
Housing is another example. Yes, buying a home in Singapore can be expensive, but many locals benefit from significant subsidies in the form of HDB grants, which help lower the cost of homeownership. In comparison, cities like Hong Kong and Monaco offer far fewer housing subsidies.
Finally, there are other forms of financial support, such as GST Vouchers, LifeSG Credits and CDC Vouchers. Collectively, these schemes help cushion the cost of living for Singaporeans, something foreigners here don’t enjoy. This helps make life in one of the world’s most expensive cities more manageable for locals.
For the average Singaporean, there’s no denying that living here is expensive. However, aside from housing, essentials such as public transport, meals at coffee shops and hawker centres, public education, healthcare, utilities and groceries remain generally affordable for most people. These may not matter to HNWIs, but they are the everyday necessities that locals care about, and why the real cost of living for Singaporeans can feel very different from what this report suggests.
