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London 'the most expensive city'

London is the most expensive city in the world to live in, new research from Swiss bank UBS has found.

The capital topped the international affordability chart due to the high cost of rents - with the large numbers of people shut out of home ownership driving costs up.

This is due to many residents being denied access to the home loans market through runaway house prices: the average home in London costs around £300,000.

UBS said yesterday that the city was the third most expensive, behind Oslo and Copenhagen, for common goods and services.

What's more, average salaries in London ranked just tenth - with workers in Dublin and Frankfurt earning more.

After taxes, the bank said that those living and working in the Swiss city of Zurich had the most disposable income - with rents and goods comparatively cheap when compared to earnings.

The UBS survey compared 71 major global cities for living costs and housing affordability.

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