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August 11, 2006
World's most expensive city: New York
Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) has a "most expensive places" survey that finally makes sense. The last survey I saw put Moscow atop the list, but it's possible to live there very cheaply. UBS's new survey gives the title to Oslo, the Scandinavian capital where even a cheap hotel is $200 and the train from the airport costs three times as much as a cab from the airport in Moscow. A short round-trip train from Oslo to Lillehammer put me back almost $100, which would get you a first-class sleeping berth on the overnight train from Moscow to St. Pete. And a simple cafe meal ordered at a counter in downtown Oslo was $19, which would get you nearly unlimited borscht in Moscow.
But where UBS tells us what we already know is this: the world's most expensive city including rent "by a wide margin" is New York, followed by London. With a typical New Yorker spending half his income on rent, it's nice to see that we can claim some distinction for all the hours we put into finding, securing, and paying for a place to live.
Posted by adrianjo at August 11, 2006 09:57 AM