Top 10 most expensive cities to rent property

Asked which city costs the most in terms of rental money, most of us would think of London or New York – or perhaps Singapore. We probably wouldn’t suggest Luanda, the capital of Angola.

And yet the West African metropolis currently tops the list of the world’s most expensive places to rent property in, according to Numbeo, a database that compiles user-contributed information on cities and countries. The reason for this is purely economic: the area is home to billions of dollars of international oil reserves, and foreigners are flocking there to work. A one-bedroom apartment in the centre of Luanda costs $3,500 a month.

Besides Luanda, there are no surprise entries in the list. New York, where 77% of Manhattanites rent rather than own their homes, comes in at number 3, despite measures taken by Bill de Blasio, the city’s mayor, to adhere to the strict rent controls that have been in place since 1943. Three other US cities – San Francisco, Brooklyn and Boston – also appear in the top 10.

London, where many residents are spending more than half their salary on rent, comes in at number 5. Rental prices in the city are on the up – the cost of a one-bedroom flat having risen by 22%, on average, over the past five years – prompting politicians to consider New York-style solutions to keeping rental properties at an affordable level.

Other cities imposing a cap on rental prices are Berlin, the first German city to enforce such legislation, and Paris, where landlords are challenging a controversial new law designed to stop rental costs rising 20% above or 30% below the area average.

Have you read?
Why is Luanda the world’s most expensive city?
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Author: Anna Bruce-Lockhart is an editor at the World Economic Forum

Image: A man walks past the view of a city skyline, September 4, 2014. REUTERS/Carlos Barria