But the London index, weighed down as it is with commodity companies dependent on global growth and energy companies affected by the oil price, never did hit that peak as fears of a slowdown grew during the year.
The index weighs everything from mortgage-interest rates and construction costs to wages and savings, and thus gauges how easy it is for Japanese to afford new homes under current conditions.
The resulting business cost index weighs expenses related to labor, energy, taxes and office space.
Its business cost index weighs labor, energy, tax and office space costs.
The index weighs both hard data and business sentiment to determine which metropolises offer the best opportunities for business.
But the two companies argue that its performance is distorted by a composite index weighed down by large-cap stocks.
The quarterly index weighs median prices for homes sold against median income levels to determine the percentage of homes that are affordable to residents making the median income (again, the national median is $63,900).
Japan's Nikkei 225 index, weighed down by weak machinery orders in November, slipped 0.6%.
As such, Lewis said the index weighs several indicators that contribute to economic mobility in the U.S. -- things like median household income, on-time high school graduation rates, poverty, preschool attendance, access to high-speed internet, crime rates and civic participation.
This index weighs heavily those households that have spent a very large share of their beyond subsistence resources on health.
