Morning Briefing: New York most expensive in the world for employees

New York most expensive in the world for employees

Companies wanting to rent office and living space for their employees will pay more in New York than in other comparable cities.

A survey by real estate firm Savills found that the city has overtaken London, due to the fall of the value of the British pound, and now vies with Hong Kong for the most expensive world-class city title.

The average cost per employee living and working in New York is now $111,900, while in Hong Kong it’s $105,900. New York has actually become slightly less expensive since June 2016 when the average cost was $114,200.

“The real test of whether a city is good value for occupiers lies in how productive an organisation can be in that city and how competitive a city is in attracting human capital to its job market,” says Yolande Barnes, director, Savills World Research. “In many cities, the cost of office accommodation pales into insignificance against the cost of personnel and residential rents will impact wage demands, hence the inclusion of housing in our live-work index.”

New York remains twice as expensive to locate employees as in rival US city of Los Angeles, and 71 per cent pricier than San Francisco.

Good time to buy but 3 cities could crash says study

The rising cost of rents and the narrowing of the gap between the cost of renting and homeownership makes now a good time to buy.

That’s the finding of an index from Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University faculty, which shows that in most US cities, homebuying makes more financial sense than renting.

"This is great news for home ownership and the financial returns to ownership," said real estate economist Ken Johnson Ph.D., who is one of the index's authors. "We are not where we were in 2012, when nearly any purchase was a sound financial decision. However, overall, we are now in a situation where aggressive marketing from sellers combined with due diligence and sound negotiation from buyers is creating a housing market that's more in line with what we've seen historically."

Fifteen of the 23 cities in the index are solidly in buy territory, while another five are only marginally in rent territory.

Dallas, Denver and Houston present scores that are worrisome in terms of local housing market conditions and report co-author Eli Beracha PhD., said the conditions are reminiscent of the past.

"The last time we saw scores of this magnitude, housing market crashes soon followed," he warned.

Music legend Dave Stewart set for move

Eurythmics legend Dave Stewart has listed his Toluca Lake home in LA for $5.6 million.

The musician bought the home in 2015 and has restored and updated it, the LA Times reports. The 4-bed, 6-bathroom Spanish-style home has a long history of showbusiness owners.

Built in 1927, the home’s residents include silent movie star Billie Dove and TV producer Mark Brazill.