Toronto and Montreal declared two of the world’s most expensive cities
Turns out the rising loonie isn’t just hurting autoworkers and lumberjacks: according to a study done by the Swiss bank UBS, Toronto and Montreal have now cracked the list of most expensive places to live, just behind New York and ahead of London.
The Toronto Star has the story:
The rising loonie, along with inflation, pushed Toronto and Montreal up the list, the report said. Auckland, Sydney, Johannesburg and Jakarta also rose through the ranks because of their rising currency.
But Toronto and Montreal are further down the ladder, sitting at 13 and 16, respectively, when it comes to wages.
“Those interested in high wages should still consider moving to Zurich, Copenhagen or Geneva,” the report noted.
Before storming to the nearest bookstore and emptying out the schweizerdeutsch section, take a second and ask how much this study is actually showing. The Financial Post has a good fact-check on this, pointing out that basically the “expense” of living here is kind of a mirage due to the high loonie; because consumers haven’t seen prices drop as fast as the loonie has risen, the “cost” of living in Canada has gone up, even if nobody here actually noticed.
Nevertheless, if anybody in Toronto needed a reason not to move to Oslo, this could be it: paying more to live even further north than Edmonton? No thanks.
