10 most expensive cities to rent an apartment in Europe in 2024
Photo: Real estate in Rome and Berlin (collage by RBC-Ukraine)
The cost of renting housing is rising in 2024 across Europe. However, not everywhere: there are cities where rent has significantly decreased.
RBC-Ukraine, citing the international city rental index from HousingAnywhere, reports on the current situation with housing costs in European cities.
How rent has changed in EU cities
Housing costs in European cities continue to rise, but not as intensely as last year. In the first quarter of 2024, there was an increase of 3.8% year-over-year. At the end of 2023, the increase was 5.8%. By property type, rents for large apartments increased by 3.9%, rooms by 3.2%, and studio apartments by 4.4%.
"While inflation has shown recent improvements, it continues to exert pressure on tenants’ wallets. Concurrently, rising construction costs pose a risk to cities' housing expansion plans for residential purposes," said HousingAnywhere CEO Djordy Seelmann.
The international HousingAnywhere index analyzes price fluctuations for rooms, 1-3 bedroom apartments, and studio apartments that potential tenants are interested in. They analyzed thousands of listings in 28 cities across 11 countries in Europe. In 62% of them, utilities are included in the rent price.
Of all the analyzed apartments, 59% were one-bedroom, 31% were two-bedroom, and 10% were three-bedroom. Approximately 97% of the listed properties were fully furnished. Most of the apartments were rented to young professionals and students.
.jpg)
Photo: Cost of renting apartments is rising across Europe (unsplash.com)
Top 10 most expensive cities in Europe to rent an apartment
Amsterdam, Paris, The Hague, Munich, and Utrecht consistently appear in the list of the top 10 most expensive cities for apartment prices. This also indicates problems with housing affordability in the Netherlands and Germany, analysts write.
"Among all the cities in the top 10, only Munich experiences a YoY price decrease for all property types. While Amsterdam remains the most expensive city to rent across the 28 cities analyzed, its studio prices have seen a marginal decrease of 0.6%," the report states.
Amsterdam and Rome remain the cities where housing is the most expensive. Compared to last year, prices increased by 0.1% and 2.6% respectively. In Turin and Valencia, the highest rent increases were recorded compared to last year at 37.5% and 33.3%, but they remain among the European cities with the lowest rental rates (1,100 and 1,400 euros).
After significant price increases in Lisbon, housing became cheaper by 21.1%. This city ranks 9th. The average rent for apartments in Lisbon is 1,700 euros. In Paris, the highest prices per square meter are 42.7 euros, followed by Munich with 33.4 euros.
Photo: Top 10 cities in Europe by rental cost (screenshot from housinganywhere.com)
In some German cities, housing has become cheaper. For example, in Stuttgart, rent prices decreased by 26.2%, and in Berlin by 7.7%.
In some Italian cities, on the contrary, there is a sharp increase in prices. Bologna ranks fifth among the most expensive cities for studio apartment rents (an increase of 25%). Rome occupies the ninth position with an average rent of 1,200 euros (an increase of 20%).
In Madrid, housing has become more expensive compared to last year by 13.7%. In Valencia, apartments became more expensive by 23% with an average rent of 800 euros per month.
