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.

The stock market had a decent summer. Investors are bracing for a bumpier fall.

In the past couple of months, equity investors cheered soaring profits at big companies, shrugged off jitters in the bond market and nudged megacap tech shares back near records.

Now, as the post-Labor Day stretch begins, a number of new challenges lie ahead: ever-shifting odds of an interest-rate increase from the Federal Reserve. Sky-high expectations after a stunning earnings season. The persistent threat of higher consumer prices as fighting in the Middle East drags on.

“You’re moving from this earnings-driven market to this macro-driven market with the Fed, inflation and interest rates in focus,” said Keith Lerner, chief investment adviser for Truist Advisory Services. “It tends to be a choppier period.”

Historically, every major U.S. stock index experiences its worst average return in September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has slid an average 1.1% in the ninth month of the year, in data that dates back to the 19th century. The S&P 500 has seen the same average decline—and for every September dating back to 1928, the benchmark ends the month lower more than half of the time.

Analysts caution against reading too much into those seasonal patterns. But in recent weeks, new reasons for investor caution have emerged. One of the largest: the looming threat of an interest-rate increase from the Fed, which announces its next policy decision on Sept. 16.

Chairman Kevin Warsh’s decision to ditch forward guidance and take more of his cues from markets has muddied the waters for investors when it comes to monetary policy. That has left traders scouring Fed governor speeches and economic-data reports for clues on the central bank’s next move.

“There’s going to be a lot of eyes on those numbers,” said John Luke Tyner, head of fixed income and portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors.

The past couple of weeks offered just one example of how frequently those expectations can change. After Warsh struck a hawkish tone during remarks on Aug. 28, the odds of a hike at the Fed’s next meeting jumped from 35% before the speech to 58%, according to CME FedWatch data.

On Thursday, Fed governor Christopher Waller made a case for leaving rates where they are. Interest-rate futures showed coin-flip odds between a hike and a hold. Then Friday’s robust jobs report amped up rate-hike bets once more, back to a roughly 60% chance of higher rates after the meeting.

“Rates have really been driving the car for equities the last few weeks,” said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategist at Baird.

That uncertainty comes as an unruly bond market could put pressure on stocks. Treasury yields have marched higher for much of the summer, driven by concerns about rising oil prices, growing U.S. budget deficits and a deluge of tech-company bonds now competing for investors’ cash. Last week, the rout went global, pushing yields to multiyear highs in Japan, Germany and the U.K.

Higher bond yields can drag on stock prices and lift borrowing costs for companies and consumers across the economy.

Rising prices remain the top concern for bond traders, and continued fighting between the U.S. and Iran has done little to ease those worries. The national average price of diesel climbed to a record of $5.850 on Friday, according to AAA. That is up from $3.712 a year ago.

Investors will get more insight on the path of prices this week, with the much-awaited consumer-price index report due Friday and a reading on producer prices Thursday.

With another blockbuster earnings season in the books, some analysts have also warned that any boost from the third-quarter reports due in the coming months could be minimal. Back-to-back quarters of standout profits have raised expectations and made it especially difficult to impress traders. Custom-chip company Broadcom, for example, said Wednesday that it more than tripled its earnings and nearly doubled its revenue. Shares slipped 2.7% the next session.

Many analysts note there are plenty of reasons not to panic. The economy is in impressive shape, thanks to a healthy labor market and the rippling effects of the artificial-intelligence investment boom. Profits are booming at America’s biggest companies. The Cboe Volatility Index has dropped to its lowest levels of 2026. Credit spreads are tight, a sign bond investors aren’t concerned about economic conditions that could hurt companies.

But the mood has shifted from the euphoria that felt tangible when the Nasdaq was notching back-to-back records early this summer. The question, Mayfield said, is whether the fundamentals that have bolstered the bull market so far can stretch the rally into 2027.

“There are more anxieties or uncertainties about the backdrop,” he said. “It does feel like a transitional moment.”