5 Cities Around the World With the Priciest Real Estate

Not that long ago, the housing market was in a boom — not just in the United States, but around the world. Several globalized trends, including the impact of COVID-19, brought interest rates down to one of their lowest points in recent history, making it the perfect time for many homebuyers to jump into the market.

Then the end of 2022 came about, with economic recovery stalling, inflation going through the roof and the threat of a worldwide recession kicking up dust with every market report. The real estate boom was over with a bang.

Still, that doesn’t mean that the price of real estate has gone down in many major cities. In fact, lots of places have become more expensive in recent years. GOBankingRates breaks down five of the priciest cities around the world to buy property.

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere — so long as you can make your mortgage payments. It should come as no shock, sticker or otherwise, that New York City remains one of the most expensive places to own a home; be that an apartment, condo or house. 

Based on Zillow’s calculations, the average New York home value in 2023 comes out to $622,026, which is “up 3.4% over the past year.” Renting isn’t better at all, with the average New York one-year lease increasing by 3.25% and two-year leases going up 5% or more, the largest jump in a decade, according to The New York Times.

In a report from CNN, New York was ranked as the most expensive place to live, tied only with…

The beautiful sovereign island country of Singapore saw housing prices rise three out of four quarters back in 2020, and then another 3.3% in the first quarter of 2021, before moderately leveling out in 2022. 

Based on a study done by Value Champion, “the average cost of a house in Singapore is S$2,080,533,” which comes out to about $1.6 million in U.S. currency.

Like many other cities around the world (as Singapore is technically a city, state and nation), Singapore continues to wrestle with a severely struggling economy. Financial instability could lead to government intervention, which Singapore last did in 2018 after a 9% annual price increase.

Known for its beautiful beaches and vibrant nightlife, Tel Aviv has secured itself as a party town — if you can afford to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world. 

Midway through 2021,  the Times of Israel reported that “unrenovated four-room apartments are marketed at no less than NIS 4,000,000 ($1,240,000)” and “depending on the neighborhood (not including the upscale Herzliya Pituach), prices can vary between NIS 1,900,000 ($587,625) and NIS 4,000,000 ($1,240,000).”

By the start of 2023, a slight bump pushed the average home price in Tel Aviv to over 4.1 Israeli shekels, which converts to about $1.16 million in the U.S.

This Swiss metropolitan city isn’t the only spot where real estate is going up in Switzerland. Geneva follows closely behind, with Basel bringing up the rear. Aside from being the country’s financial capital, Zürich is home to breathtaking waterfront properties and high-end shopping.

As found on RealAdvisor, the “median price for houses on the market is CHF 1,900,000. The asking price for 80% of properties falls between CHF 129,200 and CHF 10,000,000.” If you’re doing the math to get to USD, you’ll see that $139,690 is the low end of the scale going all the way up to $10.8 million on the high end.

Being home to close to 7 million people makes housing hard to come by in Hong Kong, classified as a special administrative region of China. Back in 2020, Hong Kong was crowned the “world’s most expensive real-estate market” by CBRE Global Living, calculating the average property prices to be in the range of $1.25 million.

While lots of other cities around the world have seen economic hardships tank the real estate market, Hong Kong isn’t set to see a drop-off until 2025. Even then, local and foreign investors plan to keep buying property, causing housing prices to possibly jump even higher as the demand to live in Hong Kong grows.