Attention jet-setting bargain shoppers: Want a cheap suit? Go to Sao Paulo, Brazil. A four-door Mercedes? Lisbon`s the place. Dental checkup? Try Vancouver.
Ostentation may be out of fashion, but for a long-term investment that should hold up in value, cheap isn`t chic, advises Jean-Marc Levet & Partners, an international real-estate investment firm that recently completed a survey of global prices.
The primary intent of the Paris-based company was to tout expensive real estate to those who can afford it. But its survey of housing, food, entertainment, transportation, medical and clothing costs also was designed to provide ”amusing and useful information for the international traveler,” the company said.
Among the findings:
– A four-door Mercedes lists for $18,315 in Lisbon, compared with $45,000 in the U.S.
– A dental check-up in Geneva averages $110 per visit, more than double the $49.76 charged in Vancouver.
– Women`s wool suits run $500 in Tokyo and Geneva, $237 in London and $370 in Paris. A silk blouse bought in New York costs more than three times a similar chemise in Paris or Geneva.
– A loaf of bread, a quart of milk, a dozen eggs and a chicken total $55.42 in Tokyo, the most expensive city for food. All that plus a filet mignon runs a mere $10.60 in Sao Paulo. An Italian dinner for two ranges from $119.05 in Tokyo to $29.30 in Lisbon.
– It costs $2.62 to hop a bus in Tokyo, compared with $1.67 in Vienna, $1.25 in New York, $1.50 in Chicago during rush hour, down to 16 cents in Malaysia.
