I'm going to skip ahead for just a moment here in our review of the Best Places to Live according to International Living's Quality of Life Index for 2011. Germany is ranked 10th on the index and while I will have more to say about Germany when I get to that part of the list I came across something in the news today which I found interesting and a little humorous.
Germany's English news, The Local, reported this morning, "Survey reveals Priciest Places to Live". Now just to clarify this is German news speaking specifically about Germany, not the 'priciest places in the world' - I actually think I wrote about that a while back. Anyhow, the article goes on to say the Munich residents are paying double the national average for real estate and rentals. I had to chuckle a little. It just made me realize our perspectives are so different around the world. In smaller European countries citizens expect prices and cost of living to be relatively consistent throughout the country and double from one area to another is considered quite extreme. It's funny to those of us who live in the massive countries of North America. Yesterday I wrote about Canada's Cheapest Place to Live, Nova Scotia. Where a nice three bedroom home on a large plot of land can be found for under $150,000 all the while no one even raises an eyebrow to condominiums selling in Toronto or Vancouver for millions of dollars. The same goes for the United States. Last year Detroit reported the cheapest house sale ever at under $10,000 while New York City and L.A. have their multi-million dolar condo markets. In North America we don't think twice about real estate varying ten fold or more.
Back in Germany eight most expensive places to live are all in Bavaria while Hamburg was ranked the most costly place to live. The eastern areas with the Saxony town of Görlitz in particular represented the least expensive places to live in Germany.
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