The Apartment, the Ego, and the Twenty-Four Million It Costs Not to See It

24,000,000

A month ago I went on a trip with some friends. One of them, someone I love deeply, had been chasing an apartment for weeks. He’d made an offer. The seller asked him to raise it by 5% or the deal was off.

He raised it.

The topic came up over dinner. I asked, without any intent to argue: “Do you really think this is better than investing and paying rent?” He answered what everyone in this country answers: “With a mortgage, you’re paying yourself.”

I nodded. I let it go. There are moments when pushing back is just an elegant way of trying to be right at someone else’s expense. And this friend doesn’t deserve that.

But the question stayed with me.

Two days later, scrolling, I came across a post from Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2026. The question was simple: what does one million dollars buy you in the world’s prime cities?

In Monaco, 16 m². In Hong Kong, 23. In Geneva, 28. In London, 33. In New York, 34. In Paris, 37. In Madrid, 75. In Lisbon, 80.

A million dollars. To lock a family inside a b…