Sydney makes Oxford Economics top 10 world cities list while Melbourne still on top in Australia

Sydney has jumped nine places to be ranked in the top 10 of the world’s best cities, just one spot behind Melbourne, with Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and the Gold Coast also earning spots.

Melbourne is the top ranked Australian city in the Oxford Economics Global Cities Index.

Sydney has cracked the top 10, while Melbourne climbed three spots in the Oxford Economics Global Cities Index, which showed the housing crisis and weather issues being the main drag on rankings in Australia.

The Index, which assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the world’s 1000 largest cities, saw Melbourne ranked sixth, ahead of Sydney which climbed from 16th last year to seventh because of an its improvement in the Quality of Life and Environment measures.

Elsewhere, Brisbane climbed four spots to 23rd, Perth fell eight spots to 31, Canberra slipped from 44th to 52nd and Adelaide dropped three spots to number 54.

The Gold Coast climbed from number 81 to 69, and no other Australian cities made the list.

The top 10 cities globally, based on economic, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance were New York, London, Paris, San Jose, Seattle, Melbourne, Sydney, Boston, Tokyo and San Francisco.

In classifying Sydney and Melbourne as archetypes based on share characteristics, Sydney was seen as a global leader, cultural capital and sustainable city, while Melbourne was seen as a regional leader and a sustainable city.

Comparing the key measures Sydney ranked 10th and Melbourne 12th in Human Capital and they were both ranked 15th in Governance. Melbourne was 16th in the Economics measure and Sydney 21st; Sydney was 39th in Quality of Life and Melbourne 54th; while Melbourne convincingly beat Sydney in Environment coming in at number 67 compared to 145.

Southbank and the Yarra River in Melbourne.

The report said Melbourne has, in the last two decades, been catching up to Sydney in aspects ranging from economics to population size.

However, it too was weighed down by high housing expenditure, an older age profile and more severe natural disasters.

Regardless, the report said Melbourne was widely considered to be the cultural and sporting capital of Australia.

“As the second-largest city in Australia by GDP, Melbourne ranks within the top 20 cities worldwide in the Economics category. Also boasting a diversified, service-oriented economy, with a large business services sector and leading research facilities in healthcare, the city has been able to grow at a relatively high and stable rate in recent years,” the report said.

The report said Sydney was arguably the most iconic Australian city and the largest in terms of economic size and was the financial capital of Australia and hosts a large business services sector, as well as key institutions like the Reserve Bank of Australia and Australia’s stock exchange.

But, it said persistent high housing costs, poor supply and an older population weighed on Sydney’s Quality of Life score.

“However, a long life expectancy, many recreation and cultural sites, and low crime rates all prop up the city’s score in this category,” the report said.

Wealthy Eastern suburbs of Sydney city around Sydney Harbour.

Brisbane and Perth were the only two other Australian cities to make the top 50.

Brisbane came in 23rd place and its weer seen as a high life expectancy, large foreign-born population and strong institutions.

Its best ranking was 15th for Governance but its lowest score was 87 for Quality of Life with the city’s high housing costs and lack of supply weighing heavily.

The report said the severity of potential natural disasters weakened the city’s Environment score which came in at 54.

“Brisbane is subject to floods as it sits on a flood plain, which has led to it being hit several times by damaging and deadly floods in recent history,” it said.

“Brisbane’s humid subtropical climate also means it faces natural disaster risks from storms and cyclones, and it can experience large rainfall anomalies.”

Brisbane’s Story Bridge

Perth was ranked 31 and was helped by a high GDP, universities and many foreign born residents.

Governance was its top measure at 15 while it was let down by a score of 208 for Environment, which was pushed down by the severity of potential natural disasters and climate anomalies, despite good air quality.

Originally published as Sydney makes Oxford Economics top 10 world cities list while Melbourne still on top in Australia