How much does it cost to rent a home around the world?
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RANKED: what rent costs in 25 countries
Across the globe, an estimated 1.2 billion people live in rented accommodation in everything from luxury penthouses to studio apartments and entire family homes. The global rental market is incredibly lucrative with tenants paying billions to live in homes owned by somebody else. Of course, monthly rents differ drastically from country to country – as does the size and quality of accommodation.
Click or scroll on to discover how much people pay to rent properties across the world…
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Numbeo's rental index
We’ve ranked 25 countries and their rental costs based on median rent price figures from the statistics platform Numbeo. The quality of life database, which is continuously updated, combines filtered user-generated information with the latest statistics from reputable sources, including government websites. Data from these reputable organisations is updated twice a year and given three times the weighting of the user-generated figures to improve reliability.
Numbeo's rental index examines the monthly rental costs of a one-bedroom apartment both within and outside of cities in countries around the world. We've calculated the median cost from these two figures to give a rounded view of the rental landscape in each location.
All prices are in US dollars and British pounds. All prices and conversions were accurate at the time of writing.
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India: $164 (£132) median rent per month
India has the largest population in the world, with an estimated 1.4 billion residents as of April 2023. According to census data from 2011, there are just under 27.4 million rented households in the country, with the vast majority in towns and cities. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment comes to just over 14,000 Indian rupees ($164/£132) per month according to Numbeo figures.
In India, most people own their own homes rather than rent. The preference to own makes sense given rocketing rent prices – the average cost of renting a two-bedroom home covering 1,000 square feet (93sqm) has gone up by 64% between 2019 and 2024.
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India: prioritising career prospects
According to a 2024 rental market report from Bangalore-based real estate platform NoBroker, 46% of renters in India are aged between 25 and 35. The second-highest renter demographic is 18 to 25-year-olds, who make up 23% of the rental population.
Many of these young renters move to new cities to pursue more prosperous career opportunities, but that does cause a shortage of properties in the most desirable locations. Census data shows that 456 million people migrated within India for work, mainly to cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Noida and Gurugram.
Philippines: $224 (£180) median rent per month
In the Philippines, the typical rent for a one-person apartment is just over 13,000 Philippine pesos ($224/£180) a month, with a big difference between city-centre living at around 16,600 Philippine pesos ($286/£230) and rental homes in more rural areas at 9,400 Philippine pesos ($162/£130).
Around a third (32.6%) of households in the country’s capital region, Metro Manila, are renters, according to a 2020 census by the Philippine Statistics Authority. Nationwide it’s a smaller percentage, with around 10.8% of the country’s 26.3 million households renting their accommodation.
Philippines: rapid urbanisation
Rental yield – the percentage return an owner makes on renting out a property – is around 5.4% in Manila according to overseas real estate website Global Property Guide, which is generally considered a good rate.
Rapid urbanisation across the Philippines has triggered a lack of affordable housing and a resulting spike in rental costs. The country is currently facing a shortage of around 6.5 million properties according to The Manila Times.
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Brazil: $270 (£218) median rent per month
In Brazil, the median rent comes to $270 (£218) for a one-bed apartment, with rental yields at around 5.6% for the third quarter of 2024. Landlords are actually earning slightly less through renting their properties than they were in the first quarter of the year, when yields were at 6.2%.
Most of Brazil’s population (64.6%) live in their own homes, government data published in 2023 reports. Renting, meanwhile, has increased from 17.3% in 2016 to 20.2% in 2022.
Unsurprisingly, renting in urban areas such as São Paulo and Florianopolis is pricier than in more rural parts of the country.
Brazil: compact city homes in demand
Brazil is experiencing a rental affordability crisis, with rent costs in October 2024 rising 11.4% compared to the year before. Smaller homes command higher prices per square foot, indicating a demand for compact, city-centre rental properties, close to the country's key business hubs.
Rental prices are a struggle for many, with 23.3% of the renting population spending more than 30% of their household income on rent each month. Households that fall into this category are said to be most affected by rent burden.
Colombia: $313 (£252) median rent per month
Colombia has the highest amount of rental housing in Latin America and increasing numbers of Colombians are living in rented houses or apartments according to the Real Estate Market Supply Report by property association Fedelonjas.
Only 39% of the nation's population of almost 52 million actually own their homes, with around 21.3% of the country’s renters living in the capital Bogotá.
Gross rental yields in Colombia were just over 7.2% in the first quarter of 2024, which is a slight dip from previous quarters, according to Global Property Guide.
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Colombia: informal rental accommodation
The median monthly rent in Colombia stands at just below 1.4 million Colombian pesos ($313/£252). Apartments are the most popular rental property type, especially in more urban areas, with more luxury offerings occupying the higher end of the market.
Meanwhile, informal rental housing has become a necessity for some low-income households in Colombia when buying a property isn’t viable. A lack of new homes being built, a lack of support for housing subsidies and loans and the high cost of land are thought to have contributed to the number of people seeking out unofficial rentals.
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Argentina: $331 (£267) median rent per month
In Argentina, the median rent for a one-bed apartment comes to just over 341,660 Argentine pesos ($331/£267) a month, while the average gross yield for landlords was 4.6% in the second quarter of 2024.
More than two-fifths of homes in the country’s capital, Buenos Aires, are rented, while apartments make up three-quarters of the residences in the bustling city.
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Argentina: a revived market
It's been a turbulent few years for Argentina's rental market. Rigid rental controls were introduced in 2020 in an attempt to regulate the market and offer tenants more security, but they had catastrophic effects. Both landlords and tenants were put under increased financial strain and 45% of landlords decided to sell their properties, while others pivoted to short-term rentals. As the supply of rental homes shrunk, rents soared by an average of 140%.
The controls were repealed at the end of 2023 and since then, the market has been revived. Rents dropped by 40% in September 2024 compared to the year before and rental unit supply increased by more than 170% as landlords rushed to relist units.
Peru: $381 (£307) median rent per month
Peru has a total population of just over 31 million people according to the latest census data. The median rent comes in at 1,430 Peruvian soles ($381/£307) per month. Around 80% of Peruvians live in urban areas, where the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is 1,750 Peruvian soles ($468/£363) per month, while outside of city areas, rent comes to around 1,100 Peruvian soles ($294/£228) a month.
In 2021 around 73% of people in Peru owned their own homes according to Statista data. This was the lowest homeownership rate since records began in 2013, leaving more people than ever dependent on the rental market.
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Peru: the toll of natural disasters
Rental yields in Peru were at 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2023 according to Global Property Guide. Negotiating rent with landlords before signing a contract is common practice.
However, there is a shortage of affordable housing, including rental homes, in the Latin American country due to rapid urbanisation, inflation and stagnating wages.
This was worsened by the El Niño Costero disaster in 2017 – a coastal weather event that brought heavy rainfall and widespread flooding to huge swathes of the country. It led to billions of dollars worth of damage, including to more than 300,000 homes, and poorer regions of the country are still struggling with the aftermath.
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China: $410 (£331) median rent per month
In rural China, many people own multi-storey homes with land. However, as the country has become more of an industrial powerhouse, people have flocked to metropolitan areas where tower-block living is the norm. Some 25% of China's urban population live in rental accommodation.
A one-bed apartment in a Chinese city centre has a median rent of 3,835 Chinese yuan ($524/£407) a month, while you could rent a similar space outside city centres for 2,166 Chinese yuan ($296/£230). Gross rental yield in China is pretty low, measuring 2.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024. This is largely due to high property prices, an oversupply of housing and decreased rental demand.
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China: apartment for one
According to a study carried out by researchers from Shanghai University in 2022, which surveyed residents in 10 large cities across China, 63% of tenants were between the ages of 20 and 30. Steep house prices have resulted in a generation of white-collar professionals who are unable to get on the property ladder.
Single people also make up swathes of China's rental population. In Shanghai, almost six in 10 renters are single and not in a relationship. China has around 220 million unmarried people and one report suggests people are turning to pets instead of families, with investment bank Goldman Sachs estimating that China’s pet population will be double the number of young children by 2030.
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Chile: $412 (£332) median rent per month
In Chile, the median rental price of a single-bedroom apartment is around 417,800 Chilean pesos ($412/£332) per month. Properties within the city centres are a little pricier at 457,900 Chilean pesos ($451/£364), while more rural areas are around 377,700 Chilean pesos ($372/£300) per month.
Rental yields added up to 4.7% in the third quarter of 2024, with areas such as Parque O’Higgins and Barrio Diez de Julio in the capital Santiago yielding slightly more at 4.9% for a one-bed apartment according to Global Property Guide.
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Chile: a spike in evictions
Only 16% of the Chilean population rents, with the private rental sector accommodating more high-income households than low-income ones according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Better Life Index.
However, swathes of people have found themselves evicted from their rental homes in recent years. As of 2024, there has been a 30% increase in homelessness in Chile since the country’s economy was battered first by mass protests in 2019 and then by the Covid-19 pandemic. Inflation spiked, unemployment rates skyrocketed and rental prices increased, which contributed to pushing families out of their rental accommodation and onto the streets or into informal settlements.
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South Africa: $413 (£333) median rent per month
The median price of renting a one-bedroom apartment in South Africa comes to 7,753 South African rand ($413/£333), according to Numbeo. Landlords in the country make a good living, with the average gross rental yield standing at more than 9.9%. Areas on the fringes of Johannesburg such as Sandton, which is a wealthy financial district, and Bedfordview, which is an affluent suburb in Ekurhuleni, tend to have even better rental yields.
There has been a big rise in the number of people renting in South Africa in recent years due to factors such as stagnant economic growth and political turbulence – 17.7% of South Africans rented in 2020, compared to 23.9% in 2024, according to the latest nationwide government data.
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South Africa: urban rental hotspots
Renting is most common in Gauteng, which is South Africa’s smallest province but has the highest population density, where 37.8% of households are tenants. Meanwhile, renters make up 27.8% of households in the province of the Western Cape, which includes the metropolitan cities of Cape Town and George.
South Africa has a homeownership rate of 69.7%. Poorer South Africans are entitled to state-subsidised housing, but conditions can sometimes be questionable. In 2023, 9.7% of people living in this type of accommodation complained of inadequate walls and roofing.
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Mexico: $515 (£387) median rent per month
Around 15% of Mexico's 37 million housing units are rented, making the rental market relatively small. The median rent across Mexico is just over 10,600 Mexican pesos ($515/£387) per month for a single-room apartment. However, renting across Mexico can be difficult to keep track of due to the informal nature of many contracts.
The country's rental landscape has had a turbulent few years. Rents increased after the pandemic as lots of foreigners – predominantly from North America – opted to move further south and work remotely on digital nomad visas. This put increased pressure on the already limited market, which lacks affordable options for low-income households.
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Mexico: rent increase cap
One location that's been particularly affected is the country’s capital, Mexico City. The Mexican government decided to intervene in August 2024 in an attempt to prevent skyrocketing rent costs.
The law originally stated rent could not increase more than 10% of the initially agreed amount, but the city’s head of government said that in some cases, rental costs were jumping as much as eight times the rate of inflation. Because of this, a new protection was put in place that stipulates that rent increases "shall never be greater than the inflation rate reported by the Bank of Mexico for the previous year".
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France: $738 (£594) median rent per month
The median rent for a one-bedroom property in France is €716 ($738/£594) – that goes up to €803 ($827/£665) in city centres and drops to €630 ($649/£522) in less urban areas. On average, a French landlord can expect to make a 4.7% return on their rental property according to Global Property Guide.
Rental costs across most French regions increased at the end of 2024 as the supply of units shrunk and the number of new-builds reduced, making leases more competitive to secure.
The homeownership rate in France is 64.7%, with the rental market disproportionally serving young and lower-income tenants.
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France: strict size rules
Renting in France – both legally and in unofficial accommodation – has become increasingly popular as the price of purchasing your own home has become more and more out of reach for lower-income households.
There are strict rules around the size of living quarters in France. Single-occupancy homes need to be at least 97 square feet (9sqm) in floor space and have a ceiling height of at least 7.2 feet (2.2m). Nevertheless, cramped and often illegally small homes can be found right across the country’s capital, Paris.
Austria: $815 (£653) median rent per month
42.9% of households in Austria rent their homes through either private tenancies or communal or cooperative schemes according to official figures from Statistics Austria. As the capital, Vienna has the highest number of tenant households (75.6%). In contrast, the rural province of Burgenland, where house prices are lower, has the lowest number of renters (21%).
Austria's tenants can expect to pay a median monthly rent of around €786 ($815/£653). For their money, tenants in privately leased accommodation enjoy an average of 756 square feet (70.2sqm) of space and an average of 2.8 rooms.
For landlords, the rental landscape isn't a particularly lucrative one, with gross rental yields standing at just under 3.6%.
Austria: subsidised housing programmes
While rents across Austria have been steadily increasing since 2005, Vienna has measures in place to ensure affordable rental accommodation is still available. The city is known as the European capital of social housing – more than half of Vienna's population is thought to live in some form of social housing, whether it's co-operative developments or city-owned socially rented apartments. Because of this, renters in Vienna pay a third of what renters in London, Paris or Dublin do.
Pictured here is Hundertwasserhaus, a colourful public housing block constructed in the 1980s and one of Vienna's most iconic buildings.
Belgium: $837 (£671) median rent per month
Around 60% of people in Belgium rent their homes. A typical one-bed apartment costs €810 ($837/£671) each month, while the average rental yield stands at 4.2%.
The average household size is 2.3 people according to census data from 2021, but in the country's capital Brussels, almost half of households are single people.
While Belgium is an economically wealthy country, it doesn’t have great social conditions for the less well-off. A 2024 OECD report found there was a shortage of affordable and quality housing, which was made worse through a lack of effective policies around housing, mobility and infrastructure.
Belgium: rent regulations tighten
New rental regulations have come into force in the Belgian capital Brussels that aim to protect vulnerable people’s right to housing. As of 1 November 2024, the deposit put down to secure a rental property – and cover any damage by the tenant during their stay – can be no more than two months’ rent and a landlord is not allowed to ask for a cash payment.
Leases are no longer allowed to have a blanket ban on pets, there are stricter rules on rent increases and a cap on the interest payable on late rent payments has been enforced.
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Germany: $847 (£676) median rent per month
Germany has the highest share of renters in the European Union according to its federal statistics agency Destatis, with 52.4% of Germans living in rental accommodation in 2023.
On average, households spent 27.8% of their income on rent in 2022, while 3.1 million households spent at least 40% of their monthly earnings on their rent. Renters in Germany living in a city centre pay a median of €931 ($964/£772) to rent a one-bed apartment, while outside the city centre the cost is around €705 ($730/£585) each month. Rental yield is just over 3.6% in Germany according to Global Property Guide.
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Germany: a culture of subletting
As is often the case in bustling capital cities, Berlin has much more of a housing crisis than the rest of Germany, leaving many people in temporary contracts – or sublets – rather than permanent leases. Subletting is generally legal in Germany but it must be done with a landlord’s consent. Tenants can lose their deposits, be fined and risk eviction if somebody takes over a contract without that permission.
In Germany, most long-term rental apartments are unfurnished and furniture is often sold from tenant to tenant, rather than landlords providing interior fixtures. In fact, some unfurnished rentals in Germany don't even include a kitchen, appliances or light fittings as tenants often take these with them when they move.
Spain: $916 (£734) median rent per month
There’s a big price difference between renting in Spain’s busy city centres, which are often overflowing with tourists, and the country’s quieter areas.
The median rent for a one-bed city centre apartment is €1,010 ($1.5k/£839), while you can get a similarly sized pad in a more rural area for €759 ($786/£630). Rental yield in Spain is just over 5.9% on average as of the third quarter of 2024.
Homeownership in Spain fell to record lows in 2023, with 18.7% of households in Spain leasing their homes.
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Spain: tourism pricing out locals
Spain has seen a huge surge in the cost of renting over the years, largely due to tourism, often leaving local tenants struggling for accommodation. The median price of renting an apartment in Spain has spiked an enormous 78% over the last decade according to international real estate agents Fine & Country.
As a result, the government has implemented a crackdown on tourism rentals. Valencia and Madrid have seen new renting rules come into place to tackle so-called ‘overtourism’. Some regions have gone a step further, with Alicante banning new holiday rentals for up to two years and Barcelona vowing to stop licensing short-term holiday rentals from 2028.
New Zealand: $1,013 (£812) median rent per month
Around two-thirds of households in New Zealand own their home and a third rent according to 2023 government data. The metropolitan city of Auckland has the lowest rate of home ownership at 59.5%, while the Tasman region has the highest rate, at 77.4%. This is predominantly due to house prices being higher in city centres.
This is also reflected in the median rental price – in urban areas, a one-bed apartment comes with a monthly price tag of around NZ$1,970 ($1.1k/£890), while a more rural place typically costs around NZ$1,624 ($915/£734). The average rental yield in New Zealand stands at just over 4.2%.
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New Zealand: access to green spaces
In New Zealand, people who own their homes tend to have better living conditions than those who rent. Data collected in 2018 showed that those in rental accommodation were more likely to live with damp, cold and mould, while 32% of renters said they could see their breath inside, compared to 13% of people who owned their homes.
But some renters across the country enjoy benefits that those leasing elsewhere in the world do not. Known for its scenic landscapes, most tenants in New Zealand have their own slice of the great outdoors. 72% of renters have gardens, versus 91% of homeowners who have their own green space.
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United Kingdom: $1,235 (£990) median rent per month
The cost of renting in the United Kingdom has soared in recent years, with private rents jumping 8.4% in the 12 months to September 2024 according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Rental prices in Northern Ireland increased the most (9.5%), followed by England (8.5%), Wales (8.3%) and then Scotland (7.2%). Private rent costs unsurprisingly increased the most in London (9.8%) and the least in the South West of England (6.3%).
The median monthly rent for a city-based one-bed apartment in the UK is £1,097 ($1.4k) per month, with a slightly cheaper rate of £876 ($1.1k) for those living in rural areas.
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United Kingdom: rental price hikes
Rents in the UK reached the highest on record in November 2024 thanks to a lack of supply and surging demand. The increased cost of running a rental property is one factor contributing to price hikes according to Statista data based on interviews with almost 1,000 landlords. However, a large number of those surveyed (59%) said they increased their prices in order to keep up with local market trends.
The UK government is currently trying to get the Renters’ Rights Bill passed into law, which will ban so-called ‘no fault’ evictions and also look to clamp down on unfair rent increases.
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Canada: $1,275 (£1k) median rent per month
Demand seriously outpaces supply in the Canadian rental market, which pushes up prices – particularly in popular city centres. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is CA$1,923 ($1.3k/£1.1k) in busy cities, while it’s slightly cheaper to live in quieter spots at CA$1,729 ($1.2k/£963).
The cities of Vancouver and Burnaby in British Colombia and Toronto in Ontario have the heftiest price tags for renting, while regions such as Fort McMurray in Alberta and Saskatoon and Regina in Saskatchewan are much more affordable. October 2024 saw the first year-on-year decline in rent prices in Canada since July 2021.
Canada: unfurnished homes
And as if renting in Canada wasn’t expensive enough, in some regions most apartments come unfurnished. In 2021, only one in four rental properties in Quebec (pictured) came with appliances such as a fridge or stove according to government data from Statistics Canada. Renters who do need to supply their own appliances only paid CA$40 ($28/£22) less per month in rent than those who had everything already accounted for.
However, two-thirds of Canadian rentals (71%) do have water and other services included in their rent, while around half of leased properties come with parking.
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Australia: $1,310 (£1k) median rent per month
In Australia, around 30% of people rent their houses privately according to 2021 census data – an increase over the last few decades. The median rent in city centres comes to AU$2,329 ($1.5k/£1.2k), while outside cities it’s around AU$1,922 ($1.2k/£963) for a one-bed apartment. Gross rental yields for landlords are just less than 5% in Australia according to data from the third quarter of 2024.
Renters across the nation end up spending more of their disposable income on housing than those who own properties. The median renter spends around 26% of their weekly earnings on rent according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Australia: more high-income renters
A growing population and more international migration have put increased pressure on the rental market, but most notably, the demographic of Australia's renters has shifted. In 1996, high-income tenants made up only 8% of the private renters, while in 2021, that number jumped to 24%, according to data from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.
This change is likely partially due to a lack of affordable housing and rising house prices, causing even high earners to delay homeownership. According to the 2023 PropTrack Housing Affordability Index, households earning the median national income can only afford 13% of homes sold across Australia.
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United Arab Emirates: $1,376 (£1.1k) median rent per month
The United Arab Emirates includes some of the world’s most luxurious cities, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that rental costs are at the pricier end of the scale. Median rent for a city centre one-bed apartment comes to 5,935 Emirati dirhams ($1.6k/£1.3k) a month, while properties in the quieter parts cost around 4,172 Emirati dirhams ($1.1k/£906).
Rental yield stands at more than 4.8% on average according to data for the fourth quarter of 2024. Dubai is particularly lucrative when it comes to landlords leasing their properties, with the city topping Savills’ Prime Residential World Cities Index for rental value growth in the first half of 2024.
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United Arab Emirates: skyrocketing rents in major cities
From the start of 2023 to July of the same year, rental prices surged by 22% according to The Dubai Rental Report by commercial real estate firm CBRE. Meanwhile, in Abu Dhabi, rental prices saw the sharpest year-on-year increase in a decade (15%), commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield reported in September 2024.
The cities' respective booming economies, which have drawn influxes of young professional, ex-pat and high-income renters looking for flexible accommodation, are largely responsible for the dramatic rent increases.
Rental prices are far more reasonable in the country's five other emirates – Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.
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United States: $1,603 (£1.3k) median rent per month
Renting a one-bed apartment in the United States comes at a median cost of $1,760 (£1.4k) for those living in the city and around $1,447 (£1.2k) outside the busiest areas.
Around 34% of occupied properties are rental homes, with most tenants living alone or with a roommate according to Forbes data. Around 52% of US renters live in an apartment, while 29% live in a detached house.
Meanwhile, gross rental yields in the US come to around 6.1% according to Global Property Guide, with New York, Chicago and Miami ranking as some of the best earners for landlords.
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United States: rent-burdened Americans
Renting is the obvious choice for Americans on a lower income, as it's cheaper than taking out a mortgage in the top 50 major metropolitan areas in the US according to a study by financial services website Bankrate. 52% of American renters spend more than 30% of their income on rent, which is what the US Housing Department describes as being “rent-burdened”.
The majority of renters in the US are between 35 and 44 years old (20.1%) or under 29 years old (19.9%). 40% of tenants live in a two-bedroom home, while 58% live in a unit with one bathroom.
Ireland: $1,616 (£1.3k) median rent per month
Ireland has seen one of the biggest upticks in rental prices in the European Union in the past decade or so. According to data from Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office, there was an enormous 106% surge when costs in the second quarter of 2024 were compared to the same period in 2010. These days, a typical one-bedroom apartment in Ireland will set renters back around €1,552 ($1.6k/£1.3k) per month.
Ireland used to have one of the highest rates of homeownership in the EU, but those rates are falling and more people are choosing to rent instead. 2022 census data showed there were nearly 514,000 occupied rental properties, which is a stark increase from the 470,000 in 2016.
Ireland: increase in mature renters
Private renting is much more prevalent among younger people, but there has also been an increase in the number of people aged 65 and over who rent their homes. The number of households in this older age group choosing to rent privately has increased by 83% since 2011 to nearly 17,000, census data showed.
According to research gathered by Ireland's Residential Tenancies Board in 2022 and 2023, the average time tenants spent renting in the private sector was just over five years and the average number of occupants was just over 3.1.
Switzerland: $1,760 (£1.4k) median rent per month
Switzerland is a country of tenants, with 61% of households – 2.4 million – living in rented accommodation or co-operative housing according to 2022 data. Meanwhile, just over a third of Swiss people live in properties that they own according to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office.
In city centres, the median rent for a one-bed apartment comes to CHF 1,747 ($1.9k/£1.5k) a month, while apartments in more rural areas are a slightly more reasonable CHF 1,444 ($1.6k/£1.3k) each month.
Basel-Stadt and Geneva have the highest proportion of rental homes, at 83% and 78% respectively, while the mountainous areas of Valais and Appenzell Innerrhoden have the fewest, at 41% and 43%.
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Switzerland: a nation of tenants
Most people living in rented accommodation are either single-person households (45%) or couples with or without children (44%) according to national government statistics.
The cantons of Zug, Schwyz and Zurich are the country’s most expensive spots to rent, while Jura, Nuchatel and Valais are the cheapest.
The mindset towards homeownership in Switzerland is different from other Western countries. Because of the country's sky-high property prices – which have doubled since 2000 – it's not considered as important a milestone to reach in adult life as it is in other nations.
Hong Kong: $1,885 (£1.5k) median rent per month
Housing in Hong Kong was ranked the least affordable in the English-speaking world in 2023 by data platform Demographia’s 2024 International Housing Affordability report. The special administrative region has a low homeownership rate of just 51%, which has actually increased since pre-pandemic levels as house prices have seen a slight drop and incomes have improved.
Nevertheless, owning a property is still out of reach for many, making rental homes in high demand. The median monthly rental price for a one-bedroom apartment is an eye-watering HK$17,280 ($2.2k/£1.8k) in the city centre, while you can expect to pay around HK$12,200 ($1.5k/£1.2k) for slightly less metropolitan areas.
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Hong Kong: small-space living
Space is a real issue in compact Hong Kong, which means plenty of people live in tiny units and often share living spaces with others. The ‘nano-apartment’ is a well-established concept, particularly among young professionals, and often involves clever space-saving methods to make the most out of limited square footage.
There is a five-and-a-half year wait for public rental housing, down from a peak of just over six years according to government Chief Executive John Lee. The figure is expected to fall to four and a half years by 2027, but that still leaves a lot of lower-income people without adequate, affordable housing.
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Singapore: $2,356 (£1.8k) median rent per month
Singapore has some of the highest rental costs in the world, with a city centre apartment costing a median of S$3,709 ($2.7k/£2.2k) a month. You can save a lot of money by renting outside of the centre, but a one-bedroom apartment still comes in at around S$2,713 ($2k/£1.6k) a month. Rental yield in Singapore is reasonably healthy for landlords, at just over 4.6% as of the first quarter of 2024.
However, the country has the highest homeownership rate in the world at 89% according to Demographia, which means that renting isn’t that common.
Singapore: a stepping stone to homeownership
For those who do rent, it can be a struggle to cover the cost. Around 85% of Singaporean renters think that current rental prices are too expensive according to 2024 data collected by Singapore property search platform PropertyGuru. Meanwhile, 37% of those surveyed said they were cutting down on their other spending to afford their rent.
44.8% of renters are aged 18-24 – given Singapore's astronomical rent prices, it’s unsurprising that people are eager to join the property ladder as soon as possible.
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