Real Estate Without Borders

Episode: Unpacking the World's Most Expensive Cities
Date: October 3, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, the hosts take listeners on a lively exploration of the world's most expensive cities from the perspective of global real estate investors. They break down two distinct rankings:

1. The World's Most Unaffordable Housing Markets (measured by house price to median income)
2. Cities with the Highest Cost of Living (measured by an index using New York as a benchmark at 100)

Throughout, the hosts provide real-world insights, colorful asides, personal anecdotes, cultural observations, and practical takeaways for international property investors and curious listeners alike.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction and Canadian Real Estate Banter (00:00 – 04:00)

• The hosts joke about the abundance of Canadian cities on global housing market lists, yet only two being ‘cool’ to live in.
• Comparisons between Canadian cities (Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver) and their winters — Calgary’s sunny but frigid cold vs. Toronto’s "wet and salty" winters.
• Quote:
  • “Toronto winters are bad, man. Like, they're so wet and salty and like damp… It could be minus 5 in Toronto…and it's like snowy rain…But it could be minus 30 in Calgary and it's dry. And sunny, because it's always sunny there.” – A (01:55)

2. Defining Exurbs and Housing Market Metrics (04:00 – 07:00)

• The term “exurb” explained: the ring outside traditional suburbs, housing wealthy commuters in “estate homes.”
• Discussion of Canadian and UK geographies, with the hosts playfully navigating UK and Canadian place names.

3. World's Most Unaffordable Housing Markets: Full Countdown and Analysis (07:00 – 18:30)

Key Markets Highlighted:

• Top 20 – Sample Cities:

  • London Exurbs (UK, 7.3x), Warrington & Cheshire (UK, 7.4x), New York (US, 7.4x), Bristol/Bath (UK), Auckland (New Zealand 7.7x), Miami (US, 8.1x), Toronto (Canada, 8.4x), Greater London (UK, 9.1x), Brisbane (Australia, 9.3x), San Diego (US, 9.5x), San Francisco (US, 10x), Honolulu (US, 10.5x), Adelaide (Australia, 10.8x), Los Angeles (US), Vancouver (Canada, 11.8x), San Jose (US, 12.1x), Sydney (Australia, 13.8x), Hong Kong (14.5x).

• Affordability Metric Explained:

  • House price to income ratio: a ratio of 10 = average home costs 10x the average annual income.

• Quote:

  • “If you’re making 100 grand a year, and the ratio’s 14, it means the average home is $1.4 million. Severely, severely unaffordable.” – B, on Hong Kong (17:17)

• Canada's Role:

  • Vancouver and Toronto discussed for extreme unaffordability given relatively modest wages.
  • Quote:
    • “Canada has really done a good job at figuring out how to pay people, like, basically nothing and somehow charge them insane amounts for houses.” – A (15:31)

• California’s Housing Market:

  • San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles ranked highly due to limited supply, high demand, and skewed income distributions.

4. Cost of Living Index—A Broader Perspective (18:30 – 28:35)

• Methodology:

  • Uses overall expenses (groceries, utilities, transportation, dining, housing), with NYC = 100.

• Top Cities:

  • New York (100, baseline)
  • Zurich, Switzerland (93.2)
  • Geneva, Switzerland (90.6)
  • San Francisco (US)
  • Basel, Switzerland
  • Boston (US)
  • Singapore
  • San Jose (US)
  • Lugano, Switzerland
  • Honolulu (US)
  • Washington, D.C. (US)
  • London (UK, 77.9)
  • Reykjavik, Iceland

• The hosts are struck by the dominance of Swiss cities in the top rankings.
  Quote:

  • “Four of the top six are Switzerland…the other two are US. Crazy.” – B (21:22)

• Reykjavik, Iceland noted as a surprise entry, explained as the country’s sole urban hub with a tight rental and sales market.

• Brief exploration of rental prices in Reykjavik and the wild story behind the naming of "Iceland" and "Greenland."

• Quote:

  • “Did you know that the Vikings…they misnamed them so everybody would go to Greenland to be like, it must be nice and green there, and then they called Iceland, Iceland, so [others] wouldn't come.” – A (30:03)

5. Market and Cultural Observations

• Difference between “unaffordable housing” and “high cost of living”:
  “So we just covered the most unaffordable housing markets around the world…Now…cities with the highest cost of living. Now the difference here … is it's measuring everyday expense: groceries, transportation, utilities, dining, and housing costs.” – B (17:29)
• Swiss cities’ high cost attributed to strong currency, high wages, limited housing, and excellent quality of life.
• The UK’s cities feature prominently for housing unaffordability, but less so on broad cost-of-living measurements.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Toronto has a really low median household income, but you go to a lot of these cities and you're like, wow, there's so much wealth here. There's so many rich people, but there's also a lot of people…in relative poverty by comparison…” – A (12:31)

• (On Vancouver’s real estate): “Tech companies love it. They're like, these people love suffering and working for us for nothing. Let's set up an office in that city, pay them in CAD, and they're going to be happy.” – A (15:50)

• (On Swiss multilinguism): “Switzerland…they have four languages. They have French. They have Swiss German. They have Italian. …it borders on France, Italy, and Germany. Right. And Austria.” – A (20:21)

• (Joking about AI in government): “The most usage of AI, well, at least of Claude…is in DC… So, like, AI is basically running the government.” – A (24:02)

• (On Canadian education and Greenland/Iceland):

  • “Canadian history curriculum is absolute garbage. The teachers are just guessing…” – B (30:34)
  • “And both of us learned the same misinformation.” – A (30:39)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 – 04:00: Canadian cities, winter weather comparisons, suburban vs. city living
• 04:00 – 07:00: Exurb definition, UK/Canada geography banter
• 07:00 – 18:30: Countdown and commentary on World’s Most Unaffordable Housing Markets
• 18:30 – 28:35: Transition and breakdown of the Highest Cost of Living Cities Index
• 28:35 – 32:20: Reykjavik’s surprising position, housing stats, fun with Greenland/Iceland
• 32:20 – End: Wrap-up, listener appreciation, invitation for global guest contributions

Final Thoughts & Calls to Action

The episode wraps with appreciation for listeners and an open call for global real estate stories:

• “We're always looking for really cool guests to come on and…give their insight into their global market, their real estate market. Even if you’ve just bought and sold maybe a few times in certain areas and want to share your experience, we would love to have you on…” – B (32:09)

The hosts highlight the value of hearing first-hand property stories from around the globe and encourage potential guests and suggestions for future topics.

Summary

This episode of "Real Estate Without Borders" blends sharp analysis, on-the-ground experience, and entertaining banter as the hosts chart the landscape of the planet’s most expensive cities, helping listeners understand not just the numbers, but the cultural, economic, and quality-of-life factors that fuel the rising costs of both housing and living abroad.