Housing affordability remains one of the continent's most pressing challenges, and a new report from Deutsche Bank Research Institute sheds light on just how wide the gap is between European cities. The "Mapping the World’s Prices 2026" study compares the price per square metre of buying an apartment in city centres across 69 global cities, 28 of them in Europe.
Switzerland emerges as the most expensive country for urban property. Zurich leads the European ranking at €22,910 per square metre, followed by Geneva at €19,439. For an 80-square-metre apartment, buyers would need around €1.83 million in Zurich and €1.56 million in Geneva.
London takes third place at €17,241 per square metre (about £14,782), meaning an 80 sq m flat costs roughly €1.38 million. The British capital is 35% more expensive than Paris, where the same size property would set you back around €1.02 million at €12,771 per square metre. Vienna completes the top five at €12,483.
Notably, only two of the top five cities belong to Europe's five largest economies: London and Paris. Germany's most expensive city is Munich at €11,435, while Berlin sits much lower at €7,613. Luxembourg (€11,011), Copenhagen (€10,191), Stockholm (€10,037) and Oslo (€9,785) also make the top ten, with the Norwegian capital just dipping below the €10,000 threshold.
Nordic and southern contrasts
The Nordic region is well represented, with three cities in the top ten. Helsinki ranks 13th at €8,431 per square metre, just behind Milan (€9,378) and Amsterdam (€9,273). Further south, Prague surprises by outranking Madrid and Berlin: the Czech capital costs €8,352 per square metre, compared with €7,831 in Madrid and €7,328 in Rome.
Dublin (€7,185) and Frankfurt (€7,162) remain above the €7,000 mark, while Lisbon (€6,636) and Barcelona (€6,485) are in the €6,000 range. At the cheaper end, Istanbul is the most affordable European city at €2,646 per square metre, followed by Athens at €3,442. Brussels, the EU's political heart, ranks third from the bottom at €4,380.
Birmingham in the UK (€4,671) stays below €5,000, while Budapest (€5,243), Warsaw (€5,443) and Edinburgh (€5,708) are just above. The simple average across the 28 European cities is €9,090 per square metre, meaning an 80 sq m apartment would cost about €727,000 on average.
Only four cities exceed the €1 million mark for an 80 sq m flat: Zurich, Geneva, London and Paris. Zurich is close to €2 million, and Geneva surpasses €1.5 million.
Globally, Hong Kong remains the priciest city at €23,790 per square metre, narrowly ahead of Zurich. Seoul follows at €21,897. The cheapest cities in the report are Cairo (€784) and Johannesburg (€913).
For those considering a move, the data underscores how much location matters. As winter escapes become popular, some may look to quieter, more affordable cities. Meanwhile, the energy crunch could further strain household budgets, making housing costs even more salient.
