Toronto surpasses Vancouver as most expensive city in Canada

Toronto has been named the most expensive city to live in Canada, taking the top spot away from Vancouver.

Consulting firm Mercer conducted the annual survey that looks at the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing and entertainment among hundreds of other items.

An increase in demand for rental properties leading to a rise in rent in Toronto is the main reason it surpassed Vancouver.

Worldwide, Toronto ranks as the 59th most expensive city, while Vancouver ranks 65th.

This is a big jump for both Toronto and Vancouver, which ranked 76th and 74th in 2010 respectively.

Ottawa is the least expensive big Canadian city, ranking 114th in the world. Montreal and Calgary rank 79th and 96th.

The title of most expensive city in the world continues to belong to Luanda, Angola because of the high cost for accommodation. Foreign workers in the oil-rich nation push up already high prices.

"In Luanda, rental prices hit records and over there a house may cost more than $20,000 US per month," says Mercer researcher Marie-Laurence Sepede in an online video. "On top of that, it is very difficult to find and quite rare."

Tokyo and N'Djamena, Chad round out the top three.

The least expensive city out of the 214 surveyed was Karachi, Pakistan. It is about three times cheaper to live there than Luanda.

The survey is developed for companies and governments that send workers abroad.

(Reuters Photo)