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Moscow is the world's most expensive city for the second year in a row, thanks to an appreciating ruble and rising housing costs, a new survey reports.

The cost of living for expatriates in the Russian capital is nearly 35 percent higher than in New York, which served as the base city for the survey released Monday.

London, estimated at 26 percent more expensive than New York, climbed three spots to second place on a strengthening British pound and steep rental prices.

South Korea's Seoul ranked third, followed closely by Tokyo at No. 4.

The survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked 143 cities around the world, measuring the comparative cost of more than 200 areas such as housing, transportation and food. The findings are designed to help multinational employers determine compensation for their expatriate workers.

In Moscow, a luxury two-bedroom apartment will cost an expat $4,000 a month; a CD rings up at $24.83; one copy of an international daily newspaper is $6.30; and a fast-food hamburger meal totals $4.80.

A strengthening euro boosted 30 European cities to top spots on the 2007 list — Copenhagen, Geneva, Zurich and Oslo, respectively, placed among the top 10.

Eight Asian cities made the top 50, though Taipei, Taiwan, plunged 20 places to No. 48.

New York and Los Angeles were the only two North American cities to rank among the highest 50, though both fell in the rankings due to a depreciating U.S. dollar, Mercer reported.

The Big Apple dropped five places to No. 15, while Los Angeles fell to No. 42 from No. 29 in 2006.

Ranking as the least expensive city for the fifth year in a row was Paraguay's capital of Asuncion, where the cost of living is half that of New York, Mercer estimated.

Bargain Hunting for Condos
Thinking of retiring to a formerly hot market? The slowdown has made parts of the Sunbelt a lot more affordable. Fortune presents a guide to finding the best deals in five markets.

June 15, 2007

Fast-flipping investors aren't the only ones who love condos. For many empty nesters, nothing beats selling the big old house in the suburbs and hightailing it to a luxury development where sun and golf are plentiful and maintenance is minimal. And what better time to go shopping than during a real estate slowdown? It was condos, after all, that rose the fastest, and fell the hardest. There should be deals aplenty, right? As it turns out, it's not that simple. Some markets have already recovered, while others have yet to hit rock bottom, and not every place was as overbuilt as, say, Miami. To get the real picture, we zeroed in on five once-scorching cities and talked to brokers, analysts, buyers, and sellers. Read on for our results, a guide to finding the best retirement real estate bargains today. And get ready to sell the lawn mower.
Miami: Vultures circling

In housing markets across the country, the reassuring refrain goes a little something like this: At least it's not as bad as Miami. Nowhere has the real estate slowdown hit as hard as it has here. At the height of the boom, speculators gorged on condos, lining up for lotteries and flipping paper units. Then, in 2005, the market turned, and the buyers vanished.

But now the vultures are circling - almost literally.

Peter Zalewski's year-old firm, Condo Vultures, tracks units that stall on the market for more than 100 days and shed at least 10 percent or $100,000 in price. His database now lists more than 1,400 condos.

Zalewski recently let Fortune tag along as he sized up a vacant two-bedroom penthouse in a 35-story tower overlooking Biscayne Bay. With $10,000 in monthly costs, the seller - an investor who failed to flip - has already cut his price from $1.2 million to $849,000. Besides the hefty discount, the unit has one of Zalewski's favorite features: an unfinished concrete floor. "It tells you the seller is desperate," he says.

Desperation hangs in the air here - and analysts say today's market is only a prelude to a bigger glut. Nearly 8,000 units are on the way this year, with another 12,000 coming in 2008, says Jack McCabe of McCabe Research& Consulting in Deerfield Beach, Fla.

Bob Zimmel, a 55-year-old health-care exec in Bethlehem, Pa., and a Condo Vultures client, is one buyer who is willing to wait. "I think the market's still going to settle out in the next 18 months," he says. If you can't wait that long, consider leasing in the meantime. The owners of a similar empty penthouse in the Biscayne Bay tower are looking to rent - so badly that they've dropped their monthly price from $4,500 to $2,800.
Naples, Fla.: Calm on the coast

It's just a two-hour drive from Miami, but Naples is another world, as famous for its sun-drenched beaches as it is for the high-society snowbirds who fill them. The tiny resort town attracts everyone from retired NFL coaches - Mike Ditka has a home here - to former auto execs.

During the real estate boom, Naples regularly landed at the top of housing analysts' overpriced markets lists. But last year a chill fell over this pristine town and its expansive golf courses. Pending condo sales dropped 43 percent from the first quarter to the fourth, and median prices fell 17 percent as buyers chose to wait out the frenzy.

Other scare factors: Florida's soaring insurance costs and a real estate downturn in the Midwest, where many Naples retirees come from. "It even hurt the high end," says Richard Baker, president of luxury condo developer Lutgert. His latest building on Naples's Park Shore Beach, the Aria, still had unsold units after it opened last October. "People were just not buying," he says.

But some experts say the market is starting to stabilize. While there's still excess inventory - a 36-month supply of new condos, plus another 42 months' worth of existing units for sale - construction has halted, and the glut is mostly in the lower end of the market. (Yes, Naples has a low end.) That means now might be the time for the skittish to come off the sidelines.

And buyers may be doing just that: Baker says three $2 million condos sold in the Aria last month. "The savvy second-home buyer is seeing that this is a good time," says Naples Area Board of Realtors President Spencer Haynes. "There's choice now, and they might be able to negotiate a better deal." For this ritzy enclave, that kind of opportunity doesn't come around often.
Las Vegas: Upping the ante

Like any good Vegas adventure, the real estate boom in the desert had a cast of colorful characters, more bluster than action, and, for some, a rough morning after. Starting in 2003, legions of developers swooped into Sin City, heralding plans for more than 100 luxury condo projects totaling some 70,000 units. But as the cold reality of land and construction costs set in, most packed up and left town.

"It was typical Vegas - a lot of hype," says local real estate consultant John Restrepo, who estimates that only 10 percent of the projects actually got off the ground. So while the lower end of the Las Vegas condo market swoons - the total number of units for sale is up 63 percent since last year - the market for luxury condos is strong. And it's likely to stay that way.

The majority of the towers are in the so-called resort corridor, the Strip and its environs, popular with foreign buyers benefiting from a weak dollar. "To those buyers, a million-dollar condo is very reasonable," says Bruce Hiatt, co-owner of Luxury Realty Group. Foreign buyers have already snapped up 30 percent of the units in a new Mandarin Oriental residence scheduled for fall 2009. The rest of the building, part of a $7 billion MGM Mirage project, is almost sold out: 90 percent of its 227 units, which start at $1.5 million, sold within two weeks of release.

Where does that leave potential buyers? Analysts say prices aren't likely to drop from here. But in a few years there will be more inventory as well as ample opportunity in resales, when the earliest investors who locked in the best prices start to sell. "In two or three years your choices are going to be phenomenal," says Sean Brown, CEO of the Vegas-based National Association of Residential Real Estate Investment Advisors. Sometimes in Vegas it pays to hold.
Phoenix: Raising Arizona

When most people think of retiring to Arizona, they picture a quiet life in a development on a golf course. But in the past five years Arizona's sprawling metropolises - Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe - have begun to go vertical, adding luxury high-rises to markets in which condos have typically meant low-rise starter homes or senior-citizen-friendly "active communities." In Phoenix at least five high-rises are planned, touting proximity to downtown and swanky amenities like concierge service.

The big question is whether the Manhattanization of this market, where condos make up just 8 percent of the housing stock, will take off. The real estate rush that triggered this spurt has waned, stalling Arizona's single-family home market, which has seen sales slide 47 percent from 2005. It's still early for the condo market, though, and analysts say its late start prevented overbuilding. Already, some projects have been put on hold.

The early buildings, on the other hand, have already given buyers opportunities to pick up units from overleveraged speculators. Last fall Ray Slomski, a Phoenix attorney, bought a $1.7 million apartment in a new luxury mid-rise - for exactly what an investor paid in 2005. Slomski leases the unit now, but it's an option if he and his wife decide on apartment life when their kids go to college. "If we were going to downsize, this is the place we'd want to live," says Slomski. Among the building's perks: valet parking and an entertainment terrace for parties.

Selling the urban lifestyle in Phoenix may be a challenge. But bullish brokers say these new condos offer exactly what retirees flocking from cities like Chicago have long sought here - not just another home in the suburbs.
San Diego: Between innings

As they try for a division title three-peat this year, the San Diego Padres are playing in front of a much bigger crowd. Five new condo towers have sprung up since last season around Petco Park in the city's still-gritty East Village neighborhood.

But on a recent evening one right-field newcomer, the 223-unit Park Terrace, is mostly dark. Like other buildings that went up after the market peaked here in 2005, it's caught in a real estate downturn. Forty percent of its units are still unsold, with concessions like waiving closing costs and homeowners' association fees the only way to lure buyers.

More than 5,800 condos were added to San Diego's burgeoning downtown in the past five years, and prices here have doubled since 1999. But the speculators who stoked that frenzy have by all accounts left - and pricing has remained stubbornly flat. "I thought San Diego would fall in price further and faster than it has," says Gary London, president of the London Group Realty Advisors.

Yet, there are encouraging signs for bargain hunters. Plenty of inventory is on the way: An estimated 4,380 units will be completed through 2008, with another 1,700 scheduled for 2009. As a swell of new condos near their move-in dates, London predicts that the influx will force double-digit percentage price drops, not just around the ballpark but throughout the city's downtown. He's careful to note that he sees big potential for the area's livability - just not for its short-term condo markets. "My five-year forecast is pretty positive," he says." But it could get dicey over the next two years."

The Padres, on the other hand, may have a pretty good shot this season.

Take a Year off to Travel the World

Ever dream about quitting your job and taking off to parts unknown? It's easier than you think. With a bit of careful planning and research, taking an extended vacation can be surprisingly affordable. The secret is to target areas where daily living expenses are lower than those here in America. Even with the weak U.S. dollar, that still leaves a huge portion of the globe to explore. Let’s assume that a typical San Franciscan spends $1,000 per month on rent, $150 on gas, and $150 on utilities. Even without factoring in food and entertainment expenses, that gives them over $43 per day to play with — more than enough to live on in Southeast Asia, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, and Africa.

But what about airfare? Since plane tickets are one of the most expensive parts of traveling, it's actually cheaper to stay longer in each destination. Around-the-world tickets may seem like a bargain at first glance, but many require you to lock down your itinerary in advance, and the joys of long-term traveling are often about seeing where the road takes you. We think it's better to book only your major flights (getting in and out of the U.S.) and rely on local transportation (bus, low-cost air carriers, camel) during your journey.

Top Five Secrets of Long-Term Travelers

1. The hardest part is deciding to go
Guess what? It's far easier to make excuses for staying home than it is to actually jump on a plane and head halfway around the world. Once you've made up your mind that this is something you want to do, the rest is just details. Most people cite money as the main obstacle to taking an extended vacation, but the next few secrets show that traveling the world can actually be cheaper than staying home.

2. Those little luxuries add up
Think you can't afford to take off for a year? You'd be surprised. Instead of blowing your cash on small indulgences like that morning latte and cable TV, start saving towards the big luxury of an entire year off. Set up an automated deposit into your savings account (most banks provide this service for free). You're far less likely to spend money that you never see. Consider this training for your future downscaled life on the road.

3. You don't really need all that stuff
One quick way to get cash is to sell your things. Sell enough stuff, and you can also cut down significantly on the cost of storing your belongings while you're out of the country. Hold a garage sale, or take advantage of online marketplaces like eBay.

4. Staying longer can save you money
As we mentioned earlier, staying longer in each destination can actually end up costing you less, and you'll get a true taste of what life is like for the locals. Hotels are out of the question — you'll burn through your cash in a few weeks. Consider subletting an apartment, staying at a hostel, or even CouchSurfing. As always, exercise good judgment — it's not worth saving a few bucks to stay somewhere that feels unsafe.

5. Know what you're getting into
Taking a year off may sound like a dream come true, but it's important to recognize that there's a tradeoff. You won't see most of your friends and family for a while, you'll temporarily step off your career fast-track, and you'll most likely be roughing it in hostels. But when all is said and done, you'll have a year of priceless memories to look back on.

Naked cyclists ride their bikes through downtown Vancouver, British Columbia during the World Naked Bike Ride Day June 9, 2007. About 50 cyclists rode through the streets trying to bring attention to pollution caused by cars.

Cyclists ride naked during The World Naked Bike Ride protest in Mexico City, Saturday, June 9, 2007. Cyclists demonstrated to promote the use of bicycles and to highlight the damage caused by car dependency in the capital.

Partially clad demonstrators pause in front of the White House as they ride their bicycles through the streets of Washington, DC as part of the World Naked Bike Ride. Nude cyclists rode through the streets of cities around the world Saturday, to highlight the vulnerability of cyclists on the road and protest against oil dependency, organisers said.

A naked cyclist poses for a photograph in Hyde Park, before setting off on the World Naked Bike Ride, in London June 9, 2007. The aim of the worldwide event is to protest against the dependency on oil and the car culture.

Naked protestors ride their bikes through downtown Vancouver, British Columbia during the World Naked Bike Ride Day June 9, 2007. About 50 cyclists rode through the streets trying to bring attention to pollution caused by cars.

A naked cyclist holds up his bicycle before the World Naked Bike Ride protest in Mexico City, Saturday, June 9, 2007. Cyclists demonstrated to promote the use of bicycles and to highlight the damage caused by car dependency in the capital.

Even the very first modern humans may have spruced themselves up with beaded bling.

Twelve shell beads discovered in a cave in eastern Morocco have been dated at more than 80,000 years old, making them one of the earliest examples of human culture. The beads are colored with red ochre and show signs of being strung together.

Similar beads have been found in other parts of Africa and the Middle East, suggesting the first Homo sapiens literally carried their penchant for baubles with them as they populated the world.

"If you draw a triangle covering the three furthest known locations of Homo sapiens between 75,000–120,000 years ago, that triangle stretches from South Africa to Morocco to
Israel," said study co-author Chris Stringer of London's Natural History Museum.

"Shell beads are now known at all three points of that triangle," Stringer added. "So such behavior had probably spread right across the early human range by this time, and would have been carried by modern humans as they dispersed from Africa in the last 100,000 years."

The findings are detailed in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. Oxford University's Institute of Archaeology and Morocco's National Institute for Archaeological Sciences led the project.

The beads found in Morocco aren't the oldest in existence. That title belongs to two tiny shells discovered in Israel in the 1930s and dated at 100,000 years old. The shells are pierced with holes and were probably also hung as pendants or necklaces, archaeologists say.

Combined, the finds hint at the extent of the culture and symbolism being practiced by the earliest modern humans. Art and decoration like the beads are considered good indicators of how human behavior evolved from Africa to other parts of the globe.

"A major question in evolutionary studies today is 'how early did humans begin to think and behave in ways we would see as fundamentally modern?'," said co-author Nick Barton of Oxford University. "The appearance of ornaments such as these may be linked to a growing sense of self-awareness and identity among humans."

Some researchers have suggested that humans didn't become culturally modern until they reached Europe about 35,000 years ago. But Europe, which doesn't show evidence of similar jewelry or customs until much later, actually lagged behind in cultural development, Stringer said.

"This research shows that a long lasting and widespread bead-working tradition associated with early modern humans extended through Africa to the Middle East well before comparable evidence appears in Europe," Stringer said in a 2006 prepared statement, commenting on the just-released, very ancient dates for the Israeli beads.

"Modern human anatomy and behavior have deep roots in Africa and were widespread by 75,000 years ago, even though they may not have appeared in Europe for another 35,000 years," he said.

Standing amid a sea of ecstatic juniors as they danced, cartwheeled and cavorted their heads off in the gym of San Diego's Jackie Robinson YMCA may have been the closest I've ever come to heaven. In which case, heaven could use another water fountain or two and maybe better lighting. But other than that, it's sublime as advertised.

In reality, of course, the little angels — and, yes, the occasional little devils — who capered about the gym were much too full of life to have been in heaven. Still, they had all been transported by a revelation: krump dancing.

Or that's what the kids would have called back had you asked what they were doing: "WE'RE KRUMPING!" they'd have roared, a big dose of "DUH" implicit in their tone. Krumping is, after all, all about self-expression… and chest popping and arm swinging and bouncing off walls and over fences.

Invited to krump by Tommy and his Hip-Hop Clowns, the kids at the Y did their level best to oblige, though I'm not sure all their moves — moves like sliding into home plate — are normally considered krump (despite the dance's very inclusive vocabulary). I am confident even the most discriminating krumpers would have agreed the kids were KRUMPING!

This is significant because there is much disagreement in the krump community: disagreement over who created krump, and over what krump is and isn't. There are hard feelings. To everyone's credit, and despite krump's often fierce mien, reinforcing kids appears to rank above rancor.

Krump got its start among the clown dancers of South Los Angeles's African-American communities. Since the early 1990's, scores of area youths have taken to clowning and clown dancing (done largely for kids' parties) as a positive extra-curricular alternative to sports or drugs or gangs. In doing so, they've followed local pied-piper-turned-global-demi-celeb, Tommy the Clown.

Back in the nineties, Tommy and his crew of upright young clowns (no drinking, no drugs) basically invented clown dancing, the goofy grab bag of dance moves that includes locking, popping, mock stripper dancing and anything else that makes ‘em laugh. As crew after crew of copycat clowns appeared in the ‘hood, so did rivalries. "They couldn't all dance for me," Tommy explains.

So he began hosting dance-off sessions ("Battlezones" as he calls them) as a positive, non-violent way for the kids to strut their stuff and compete for bragging rights. "Sessioning" became a popular pastime, whether in organized Battlezones or informal get-togethers, birthday parties or dance schools.

The mock-battle sessions, often accompanied by slow and portentious (my word) rap music, gave rise to an electric, adrenaline-suffused and highly emotive style of dancing that came to be known as krump. Like clown dancing, krump is a mélange, borrowing from dance forms as disparate as ballet and break dance. Some of krump's most distinctive moves are straight out of Africa and even Papua New Guinea.

Krump dancing is visceral, gymnastic, aggressive and raw. It's often fast — faster than most mortals will ever move. Yet for all of krump's energy and athleticism, it is the expression of feelings, tapping them, getting "amped" (almost ecstatically connected to oneself), that krumpers say distinguishes krump from other dance.

Krump's inner city practitioners see the confrontational dance as a metaphor for the real battles they and others face daily at home and in the ‘hood. They insist krump offers a way to express frustration, powerlessness, anger and inequality — feelings common among kids in poorer communities. Krump, they say, helps them confront and overcome their struggles.

For Tight Eyes and Lil C — two dancers critical to the evolution of krump who stopped clowning for Tommy years ago — frustration at not receiving credit for having actually created krump (to hear many tell it) appears to be one such struggle. There is genuine disagreement between original krumpers over how krump came to be. There is resentment that Tommy the Clown gets the lion's share of credit (or at least press) for krump.

Tight Eyes and his crew, the Krump Kings, are so over the press that I managed only to speak to their representative, Kokie Nassim. I wanted to ask about some krump purists' condemnation of booty shaking (or "popping cakes" in krump parlance), particularly where male krumpers are concerned.

Such a ban on a major muscle group seemed to me strangely puritanical and potentially prejudicial. Kokie reminded me that krump is first and foremost about self-expression and that "shaking your booty doesn't express anything." When I protested (someone's got to have our collective booty's back), he explained that the butt-shaking ban was largely about looking out for kids, who are already exposed to too much adult content, whether in obscene lyrics or provocative music video choreography.

Having been disconcerted myself at seeing kids far too young to understand the implications of grinding like strippers grinding like strippers, I have to respect where the Kings are coming from.

Like most anyone, Tight Eyes and Lil C feel proprietary about what they consider their creation. Unfortunately, they and all the other dancers involved in the creation of krump did far too good a job.

Kids at Jackie Robinson Y and Kearny High in San Diego were pumped to krump before Tommy and his crew ever entered the building. Ditto fans at USC's Bovard Auditorium. Asian kids krump in Long Beach (the RiCe TrAcKs crew). The Kamikaze Clownz krump in Japan. White kids all across Europe have krumped with the Krump Kings or Tommy and his Hip Hop Clowns. I've read about Latino kids in East L.A. attending all-night krump sessions where some in attendance drink and probably smoke a bit of mota — anathema to the upright OG's of krump.

As with so many art forms of African-American origin, though, and for better or worse, the krump is out of the ‘hood. It's taken on a life of its own.