Living in Amsterdam is officially the most expensive in the world

Our capital has been flirting with me for years, making me doubt. Every time I stay over, adventure beckons. Should I leave my little Domstad for Amsterdam? I mean: we are almost together every day. The hours we spend together, I just keep going back and forth on that train.

The only downside is the price. And the fact that my cats want a garden. I want a bath by the way, almost impossible in Amsterdam. And a bit of square meters to live. Hmm. Despite the fact that it clicks bizarrely well between us, Amsterdam and I might not be such a good match after all. And I'm not the only one with this problem...

Colleague X just said here that she had to outbid a hundred euros on the price of a rental room. Outbid? On rent? Really? Is that a thing? Disgusting. Endless waiting lines. With dozens of people auditioning for a room. Paying tons for gingerbread houses of 40 square meters. It's ridiculous. We have long surpassed London and other world cities when it comes to unaffordable living. Serious fact: in the past five years, living in Amsterdam has become 63.6 percent more expensive, while the income of Amsterdammers only increased by 4.4 percent. In no other world city is that ratio so skewed, as it turns out from a report from the British consultancy firm Knight Frank.

Together with cities like Hong Kong and Los Angeles, Amsterdam has been declared the ‘least affordable’. This leaves us behind metropolises like London, New York, Moscow, Paris, Brussels, and Dubai. A total of 32 world cities were examined. I don't know about you, but I find this unacceptable. When is the government going to take this seriously?

Utrecht, don’t worry, friend, I will stay loyal to you. Together in the bath tonight?