Ranking the global lifestyle

Factors used to measure various locations around the world included climate, culture, and cost of living, as well as more specific elements such as access to education and leisure pursuits, favourable taxation regimes for new residents and the availability of top quality restaurants.

Traditionally popular investment locales such as London, Paris and New York, obviously did well in several categories, but failed to achieve enough consistency across all aspects of the survey to claim the top spot.

Instead, it was Dubai that came out first in most categories, with Mallorca and the Cayman Islands following in joint second place. Geneva and Auckland also ranked highly, helped by their strong positions in Mercer’s Quality of Living rankings and low political risk.

In Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore both managed top ten rankings, but the region’s emerging economies were conspicuous in their absence – even those currently achieving impressive tourist arrival numbers, such as Thailand and Indonesia.

Breaking down the various lifestyle factors based on people’s common motivations for international investment and relocation may help explain why some countries remain under the global radar.

Entrepreneurs considering the perfect location for business, for example, require factors such as political stability, fiscal transparency and favourable tax incentives, none of which are a given in most developing Southeast Asian nations.

Families look for quality education, personal security and access to leisure pursuits, all of which have been improving in the region, but are still subject to regular setbacks.

Meanwhile, quality of life, cost of living and personal security are all major drivers for retirees, and although certain Asian locations could be said to offer all three; when compared to the winning destinations – Auckland, Ottawa and Mallorca – they still lack consistency.

With property investment in Southeast Asia increasingly crossing borders in search of financial returns, lifestyle considerations will undoubtedly play an important role when it comes to developing more sustainable international real estate markets in the region. Ticking a few more of the motivation boxes now will therefore stand Southeast Asia’s emerging economic tigers in good stead for the future.