11–20 of 79 posts
Eastern Europe is where it is at. Ukraine is super cheap and a really beautiful place, requires a little work to get there but not to bad. Hotels are cheap and really good food and just awesome. Planning to go again this summer.
I would have expected the most desirable Western European nations to lead, but most of those are in the 20's. Those nations tend to have more regulation and much less space to develop, yet they've managed to keep their rents meaningfully lower despite having a comparable cost of living overall.
> Rent Index: This index estimates the prices of renting apartments in a city compared to New York City. If the Rent Index is 80, it suggests that the average rental prices in that city are approximately 20% lower than those in New York City.
This anecdotally back ups what I was seeing when I visited the US. Groceries and food (in general) was surprisingly more expensive in New Hampshire and Vermont than Calgary where I live (which is not a low COL area in Canada). I cannot understand how American fruit costs more in the US than they did back home (when including the exchange rate). I was not visiting a premium grocery store (it was a Price Chopper near a…
Switch to the purchasing power index to get a more clear view of the relative wealth of people in the countries.
The relative ranking of the US has changed drastically within the past decade. I wonder why. It seems like many factors that we blame for rising costs - inflation, supply-chain issues - would affect other countries as well.
Eastern Europe is where it is at. Ukraine is super cheap and a really beautiful place, requires a little work to get there but not to bad. Hotels are cheap and really good food and just awesome. Planning to go again this summer.
Would avoid the eastern part though
This anecdotally back ups what I was seeing when I visited the US. Groceries and food (in general) was surprisingly more expensive in New Hampshire and Vermont than Calgary where I live (which is not a low COL area in Canada). I cannot understand how American fruit costs more in the US than they did back home (when including the exchange rate). I was not visiting a premium grocery store (it was a Price Chopper near a…
Salaries in the US are substantially higher then Canada. Switch to the purchasing power index to get a more clear view of the relative wealth of people in the countries.
When sorting by Rent Index, the US looks like a massive outlier at 45. Everywhere else over 40 is either a tiny island nation/territory or famously idiosyncratic (Switzerland, Iceland, UAE). The other Anglosphere giants, Canada and Australia, come in very high as well at 36. I would have expected the most desirable Western European nations to lead, but most of those are in the 20's. Those nations tend to have more re…
If people prioritise the size of their home more then it stands to reason that they'll pay more as a percentage of income.
When sorting by Rent Index, the US looks like a massive outlier at 45. Everywhere else over 40 is either a tiny island nation/territory or famously idiosyncratic (Switzerland, Iceland, UAE). The other Anglosphere giants, Canada and Australia, come in very high as well at 36. I would have expected the most desirable Western European nations to lead, but most of those are in the 20's. Those nations tend to have more re…
Not my experience but I think Amsterdam also has extremely high rents but I'm not sure how it compares to the rest of the Netherlands.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is that? What’s been happening on the ground?
Japan has always been a value. I don't understand why folks think it is expensive. Food is cheap, accommodations aren't expensive, transportation is affordable. The most expensive thing is airfare from the USA. I believe that they never fully recovered after Covid and tourism never bounced back. The YEN has also taken a beating so you can get more for your USD.
How long back does your 'always' go?
Japan has approximately the same local price level now that they had in the early 1990s. One USD also buys approximately the same number of Yen as it did in the early 1990s. But the USD had quite a lot inflation in the meantime.
Ie Japan has gotten a lot cheaper comparatively. It used to be a lot more expensive.