According to data from the internet, the world’s most expensive real estate is always tied to cities like Monaco, Hong Kong, London, and New York.
GlobalPropertyGuide.com published a list of the most expensive cities in the world, placing Monaco at the top, where the average price per square meter is $60,000. In second place is London at $34,500, followed by Hong Kong at $25,500, New York at $17,000, and Tokyo in fifth place with around $16,000. Among the ten most expensive cities, five are European: Monaco, London, Geneva, Vienna, and Paris. Zagreb is ranked 82nd, with an average price of around $1,400 per square meter.
According to Bloomberg, the most expensive apartment sold in London in April this year reached a price of £90 million. In recent years, property prices in London have averaged 150% higher than in other parts of the United Kingdom. In the British capital, the average price of a house or apartment is 12 times higher than the average annual salary. According to data published on eMoov’s website, the average property price in London is about £470,000, while the average annual salary is just under £40,000.
Last year, the average price per square meter in the UK was around £2,200, while in London the average price was about £26,500 per square meter.
When it comes to other European countries, the most expensive real estate in Italy is on average in Venice, where the average price per square meter is around €4,400. Florence ranks second, with an average square meter price of about €3,400, and Bolzano is third at €3,300 per square meter. The average price per square meter in Rome is slightly below €3,300. The most expensive part of Rome in terms of real estate prices is the area around the Spanish Steps (Piazza di Spagna), where a renovated property can cost around €13,000 per square meter (Romeloft.com).
In the French capital, Paris, the average price per square meter last year was around €8,000. Property prices in France increased by an average of 2.1% last year (Meilleuragents.com), with around 840,000 properties sold. The highest increase in property prices was recorded in the city of Nîmes, known as the French Rome, where prices rose by more than 11%, reaching €2,052 per square meter. In Paris, during the same period, prices increased by 4.6%.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the real estate market in the past year is the German market. Germany is known for stable property prices; however, in the last months of 2016, prices in that market began to rise rapidly. GlobalPropertyGuide.com highlights that the price increase is linked to strong economic growth, the arrival of over a million refugees, the influx of foreign labor, and low interest rates.
In northeastern Germany, property prices (apartments) are highest in Berlin, where the average price per square meter is about €3,000, while in western Germany, Düsseldorf is known as the city with the highest average price per square meter in that region, amounting to about €2,200. In southern Germany, as expected, the most expensive apartments are in Munich, where the average price per square meter is nearly €5,000.
If we take a look at the Croatian market, it’s inevitable that almost every media outlet reports that Dubrovnik is three times more expensive than Zagreb.
According to the real estate website Crozilla.com, house prices in January were 1.8% lower than in the same month the previous year. The cheapest houses during January were listed in the interior, while the highest prices were recorded on the Adriatic coast. Price differences between inland and coastal areas are evident when comparing the most expensive cities in these regions: house prices in Dubrovnik were three times higher than in Zagreb in January. More than half of the houses listed on Crozilla.com in Dubrovnik had prices exceeding €3,000 per square meter, while only about 5% of such listings existed in Zagreb. Additionally, the largest increase in house prices was recorded in Dubrovnik and Zagreb, while Zadar was the most interesting city for potential foreign buyers.
The biggest monthly price change was recorded in Dubrovnik, where due to an increase of 4.2%, the average asking price for a house, including the yard, rose to as much as €4,134. In Zagreb, the increase was 0.7%, and the average asking price per square meter was €1,229.
The largest monthly drop in house prices in May was recorded in Bjelovar and Slavonski Brod. The average asking price per square meter for houses including the yard in Bjelovar fell by 3.3%, amounting to €470, while prices in Slavonski Brod dropped by 2.3%, with an average of €632 per square meter.
According to data from Crozilla.com, Poreč and Dubrovnik were the cities where average asking prices for houses were slightly higher than for apartments. In Dubrovnik, the price difference per square meter was €197, and in Poreč €53.
Looking at apartment prices, the biggest monthly drop in prices during June was recorded in Opatija. There, prices fell by 2.2%, and the average asking price per square meter was €2,885. A decrease of 1.6% was also recorded in Dubrovnik, where apartment prices dropped to €3,875 per square meter, and the average asking price in March was €3,671 per square meter.
The same trend applies to average prices of building land. According to Crozilla.com, in February, average asking prices for building plots were 10% lower compared to the same month in 2015. As expected, the highest prices were recorded in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, where the average asking price per square meter of building land was €149.
