The 10 most expensive (and cheapest) cities to buy a house in Europe
Paris is the most expensive European city in Europe to buy a home, with an average of 620,809 euros. Despite this, and the fact that a square meter in the center of the French capital is 13,710 euros and 10,380 euros in the outskirts, 65% of French people live in a home they own. With an average monthly net salary of 2,870 euros, the French take 54 years to pay for their residency.
London occupies the second position, according to data from the British real estate consultant CIA Landlord Insurance, where a house costs an average of 581,395 euros, 12,890 euros per square meter. In this sense, he adds that with house prices rising year after year in the British capital, in 2025 around 60% of Londoners will live in rented accommodation, according to an analysis carried out by PwC.
A one-bedroom flat in central London costs 1,936 euros per month on average, being the city with the highest rents, or 1,457 euros if rented outside the city centre. Based on the average price of a house and the average income of 3,656 euros net per month, it takes four decades to pay for a house in the Brexit capital.
It is followed in the Luxembourg classification, where a home reaches 557,825 euros, at 11,247 euros per square meter if what you want is to have a house in the center of the city, or around 8,219 euros per square meter outside the old town. The owner takes an average of 36 years to pay for a home, starting from an average salary of 3,858 euros. If you choose to rent, the price is 1,562 euros for a one-bedroom apartment in the center and 1,264 on the outskirts.
It is followed in the ranking by a Swedish city, Stockholm, with an average price of 426,000 euros, at a rate of 9,847 euros per square meter in the heart of the capital, where the rent of an apartment is 1,265 euros, and 37 are the years spent paying for a home, starting with a salary of 2,895 euros. Next comes the Swiss city of Bern, which is where it takes the shortest time to pay for a house: 21 years, given that the clean monthly salary amounts to 4,810 euros, and the price of a flat in the heart of the city costs about 410,435 euros, at 7,187 euros per square meter.
On the contrary, Brussels turns out to be the cheapest place to acquire a residential property. For just 221,073 euros you can live in the heart of the European Union, where a square meter costs 3,659 euros. With its low cost of living, this metropolis turns out to be a very cheap place to live, they say in the aforementioned consultancy. Based on the average price of private property and income, it takes just 23 years to pay for a house in the Belgian city, where the average salary is 2,105 euros.
The second cheapest city to buy a house in Western Europe is Lisbon. In the Portuguese capital it is possible to find homes for 227,751 euros, yes, to pay in 58 years, since the average salary is 848 euros per month. In third position, among the cheapest, is Madrid, where a flat costs around 246,752 euros, equivalent to 4,965 euros per square meter in the center, and 3,065 euros in the outskirts. Paying for a house in the Spanish capital can take 38 years on average, if the average monthly net salary of 1,404 euros is taken into account. The most common rental of an apartment in the center costs about 879 euros, in line with Brussels and Lisbon, with 857 and 860 euros, respectively, while in the peripheral neighborhoods the rent comes out for 663 euros in Madrid, 711, in Brussels, and 664 in Lisbon.
Madrid is followed on the list by the capital of Iceland, Reykjavík, and the German capital, Berlin, where you can buy a home for less than 300,000 euros.
