REVEALED: WHAT DEFINES LUXURY & QUALITY OF LIFE AROUND THE WORLD

A life of luxury in Australia costs more than it used to in Australia. Inflationary pressures have pushed everything from the price of real estate, extravagant dining experiences and lavish weekends away up higher than they’ve ever been before.

The price tag for luxury homes across Australia now starts at $2.52 million, up an eye watering 72 per cent from a decade ago.

But what counts as luxury varies significantly depending on location. Sydney remains Australia’s most expensive market, where luxury begins at $4 million. The Gold Coast has now taken second place at $2.6 million, pushing ahead of Melbourne’s $2.49 million entry point.

That’s according to Luxury Report, produced by real estate firm Ray White, analysed what defines luxury today.

Global comparison

Housing affordability continues to hover at crisis levels in Australia, but how does a luxury lifestyle in Australia compare with the rest of the world?

A look at real estate markets abroad quickly reveals that where you choose to live can have a huge impact on what it costs to put a roof over your head.

For example, in Monaco, a small apartment can set you back more than $38,800 per square metre. In this small Here, more than 40 per cent of the nation’s residents are millionaires: the highest proportion of any city in the world.

According to the ninth edition of a report that offers a snapshot of how global cities compare on cost of living, quality of life and income and affordability, Sydney and Melbourne isn’t anywhere near as expensive as other cities around the world.

Which puts it perspective for the wealthy trying to grapple with whether or not they can afford to keep the holiday house, or whether to list it for sale.

The Mapping the World’s Prices 2025 report ranked the cheapest and most expensive cities around the world, with the Deutsche Bank Research Institute assessing global cost and quality of life indicators.

The report tracks what it costs to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle. This includes the prices of everything from groceries, wine, buying a city apartment, salaries and general measures of the quality of life. Other factors measured include the cost of a summer dress, a carton of cigarettes, internet data and what it costs to dine out in some of the best restaurants.

Produced by the Deutsche Bank Research Institute, the report points out that inflation making a roaring comeback over the last five years, currency swings are influencing purchasing power and the world’s cost of living leaderboard is therefore shifting quickly.

Researchers focused on the 69 cities that matter most to global financial markets, and therefore your investment portfolio.

Here’s a breakdown of the most expensive places to live around the world:

Quality of life

If you’re seeking a good quality life, the top five cities for a quality lifestyle listed in the report are Luxembourg, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Vienna and Helsinki.

Meanwhile, Zurich and Geneva have slipped out of the top five because cost of living pressures have continued to skyrocket, making these cities now the most expensive in the world to live in.

Buying an apartment

Prices for an apartment have fallen by 20 per cent in Hong Kong over the last five years, but still top the list, followed by Zurich, Singapore, Seoul and Geneve.

London and New York are just outside the top five, while Beijing comes in at ninth place, highlighting the elevated property prices in China. If you’re looking to buy an apartment, unit or townhouse in Australia, the median price in July 2025 was $686,399.

Utility bills

Electricity bills cost around $350 to $420 per quarter in most states of Australia, which is much cheaper than what Germans are forking out. Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin have the highest energy bills in the world, while Warsaw, Vienna and Prague also make the top 10, highlighting that Eastern European cities are counting the costs of the lack of cheap Russian gas.

iPhone

If you want to pick up a smartphone to keep in touch with loved ones while travelling, you’re going to pay a lot more for one in Turkey, Brazil, Egypt, India and Sweden. Seoul is the cheapest as competition with Samsung makes it even cheaper than in US cities.

Groceries

Geneva, San Francisco, Zurich, New York and Boston are the top five costly places to stock up on groceries. Even by Swiss standards, groceries in Geneva are generally expensive, while groceries in Sydney are 39.41 per cent lower than in Geneva.

Wine

Picking up a bottle of wine will set you back if you’re in Singapore, where you’ll pay more than anywhere else in the 69 countries surveyed. Jakarta, Seoul, New York and Oslo are also expensive. It’s much cheaper to purchase wine in some other lovely cities, including Rome, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Budapest and Lisbon.

Cigarettes

Incredible, Australia tops the list anywhere in the world for the price of cigarettes. Government taxes and duties applied to cigarettes aim to dissuade consumption mean that Melbourne and Sydney have been ranked as the most expensive place for cigarettes, along with New Zealand.

Restaurants

Eating out in a swanky restaurant in Australia can set you back up to $300 per person. That might sound expensive if you’re trying to feed a family of four, it’s going to be more in Zurich, Geneva, New York, San Francisco and Boston.

Buying a car

Singapore and Copenhagen actively discourage the purchase of cars and are the most expensive cities to purchase a set of wheels. In fact, the cheapest possible car will set you back around $150,000 in Singapore Dollars. That’s for a basic car like a Honda Jazz, which is the same price as a Porche in any other part of the world.

The reason cars are so expensive in Singapore is the huge population in a limited space meaning the government prioritises a clean environment and less traffic. The next most expensive places to purchase a car are Tel Aviv, Istanbul and Abu Dhabi.

A new investment fund targeting celebrity-founded consumer brands has secured US$40 million in commitments and is rapidly approaching its US$50 million fundraising target, signalling growing investor appetite for alternative opportunities beyond traditional asset classes.

The Global Talent Fund, which has a maximum raise of US$100 million, focuses on building and investing in consumer businesses alongside celebrities, athletes, and influential personalities who play an active role as co-founders rather than simply endorsing products.

The strategy is based on the belief that changes in consumer behaviour, particularly the rise of social media and digital engagement, have fundamentally altered how brands are built and scaled.

GTF founding partner Jeremy Hunt, who is helping lead the fund’s strategy, said consumers increasingly feel connected to personalities they follow online and are more willing to support products developed by those individuals.

“Consumers are searching for content to engage with, and when a celebrity they like or follow takes them on the journey of creating a product or brand, they genuinely feel part of that process,” he said.

The fund is targeting high-growth consumer sectors including wellness, hydration, beauty and recovery, areas Hunt believes continue to benefit from strong global demand and ongoing innovation.

Rather than backing celebrity endorsement deals, the fund is seeking businesses where talent is deeply involved in product development, brand creation and long-term growth.

According to Hunt, authenticity remains one of the biggest differentiators between successful celebrity-backed brands and those that fail.

“The consumer can see clearly if someone is simply being paid to promote a product,” he said. “The winners are typically the brands where the celebrity has genuinely helped build the business from the ground up.”

The model has attracted support from several prominent Australian investors and business families, reflecting broader interest in alternative investments with global growth potential.

Hunt said consumer brands offered a level of tangibility that many investors found appealing.

“Consumer brands are what we touch, feel, smell and taste every day,” he said. “Our investors understand the growth potential in the model, but they also want to be part of the journey.”

The fund’s rapid progress towards its fundraising target comes amid growing recognition that celebrity influence, when combined with strong commercial execution and scalable business models, can create significant enterprise value.

With several high-profile celebrity-founded businesses generating billion-dollar exits in recent years, supporters of the strategy believe the opportunity remains in its early stages.