Amsterdam one of Europe’s least affordable cities for housing (2024)

Considering the rising house prices in the Netherlands, this news is likely unsurprising, but a new ranking has named Amsterdam as the sixth most expensive city in Europe when it comes to buying and owning your own home.

The most and least affordable cities in Europe

CIA Landlord, a UK-based insurance company catering to landlords, has looked into house prices in the major European cities in an effort to determine the most expensive and most affordable cities to live in. The ranking examined capital cities across the continent, taking a number of factors into account:

• Average house price
• Average price per square metre (city centre)
• Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment
• Average cost of living
• Average price of basic utilities
• Average net salary

Through their research, CIA Landlord found Paris to be the most expensive city, with an average house price of almost 622.000 euros. On the other end of the spectrum, the cheapest homes can apparently be found in Chișinău, Moldova, (57.848 euros) and Skopje, North Macedonia (65.806 euros). The cheapest city in Western Europe is Brussels, where anyone looking to buy property can expect to pay an average of 221.487 euros.

Staggering house prices and rents in Amsterdam

According to the study, Amsterdam is the sixth most expensive city in Europe when it comes to housing. Using figures from March 2021, Amsterdam is listed as having an average house price of 407.404 euros, with an average price per square metre of 7.527 euros in the city centre.

Those looking to rent should also prepare to pay high prices: the average monthly rent of a one-bedroom apartment in the centre of Amsterdam is 1.568 euros. Utility bills will also set you back a decent amount of cash - 163 euros a month.

Least affordable cities to buy a home in Europe

According to the ranking, the top ten least affordable cities to buy a home are:

1. Paris
2. London
3. Luxembourg
4. Stockholm
5. Bern
6. Amsterdam
7. Oslo
8. Copenhagen
9. Helsinki
10. Dublin

For more information, visit CIA Landlord's website.