Two years of rising property prices in Israel and falling property prices in the US, combined with a more severe recession in the US than in Israel, which contributed to the shekel's appreciation against the dollar, has resulted Tel Avivand Jerusalem surpassing New York in the rankings of the world's most expensive cities, according to a survey by global human resources company ECA International, which was published by 'BusinessWeek'.
ECA ranks Tel Aviv in 19th place in 2010 (up from 24th place in 2009) and Jerusalem in 22nd place (up from 27th place), whereas New York is in 29th place (down from 18th place). Tokyo is in first place, up from second place in 2009, followed by Oslo, which rose to second place from eighth."
