Shanghai 8th most expensive city to rent an apartment

http://www.eca-international.com/ASP/ViewArticle2.asp?ArticleID=189

Five of the top 10 most costly cities to rent globally are in Asia

Hong Kong is the world's most expensive city to rent accommodation and Asia accounts for five of the world's top ten most costly cities, according to a survey conducted by ECA International, the world's leading knowledge and solutions provider for international HR professionals...

Five of the top 10 most expensive locations in the world are in Asia, with Seoul (5th), Mumbai (7th) and Shanghai (8th) joining Hong Kong and Tokyo . New York, Moscow, London, Caracas and Paris make up the 10 most expensive cities globally to rent a three bedroom apartment.

High rental prices in Tokyo, New York, Seoul, Moscow, London and Paris largely reflect high living costs in these locations, while Mumbai, Shanghai and Beijing suffer from a shortage of modern, well equipped properties that meet expatriate standards, pushing prices up for those properties that do.

World’s most expensive locations to rent a three bedroom apartment

Rank Location Country
1 Hong Kong HONG KONG
2 Tokyo JAPAN
3 New York USA
4 Moscow RUSSIA
5 Seoul KOREA REPUBLIC
6 London UNITED KINGDOM
7 Mumbai INDIA
8 Shanghai CHINA
9 Caracas VENEZUELA
10 Paris FRANCE
11 Beijing CHINA
12 Ho Chi Minh City VIETNAM
13 Istanbul TURKEY
14 Dubai UAE
15 Singapore SINGAPORE

I don't know what they are using for statistics but our apartment (2 bedroom) in Shanghai is just over half the cost of what we were paying in Sydney. Our building is oldish (about 10 years old) and by Australian standards average or even below average but for local standards it is deemed unaffordable, 'huge' and luxurious. Sure if you want an expat apartment with all the mod-cons it does cost a packet in Shanghai. I have seen some of the ads and the prices are astronomical!