Zurich is Europe’s most expensive city for buying an apartment in the centre, with prices averaging €22,910 per square metre, according to Deutsche Bank Research Institute’s Mapping the World’s Prices 2026.
Geneva ranks second at €19,439 per square metre, followed by London at €17,241. An 80-square-metre apartment would therefore cost about €1.83 million in Zurich, €1.56 million in Geneva and €1.38 million in London.
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Paris And Vienna Complete Top Five
Paris ranks fourth at €12,771 per square metre, making central London about 35% more expensive. Vienna follows at €12,483.
Munich is Germany’s most expensive market at €11,435 per square metre. Luxembourg, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo also rank among Europe’s 10 most expensive cities, with prices ranging from €11,011 in Luxembourg to €9,785 in Oslo.
Milan and Amsterdam are slightly cheaper at €9,378 and €9,273 respectively, while Helsinki ranks 13th at €8,431.
Central European Cities Narrow The Gap
Prague is also approaching Western European markets, with central property averaging €8,352 per square metre. Madrid follows at €7,831 and Berlin at €7,613, while Rome averages €7,328.
Dublin and Frankfurt remain above €7,000 per square metre at €7,185 and €7,162. Lisbon and Barcelona are lower at €6,636 and €6,485.
Istanbul And Athens Among The Cheapest
Istanbul is the least expensive European city in the survey at €2,646 per square metre, followed by Athens at €3,442. Brussels ranks third from the bottom among the 28 European cities at €4,380. Birmingham averages €4,671 per square metre, while Budapest, Warsaw and Edinburgh range from €5,243 to €5,708.
The average across the 28 European cities is €9,090 per square metre. An 80-square-metre apartment would therefore cost about €727,000, while only four cities exceed €1 million for a property of that size.
Hong Kong Is The World’s Most Expensive
Across all 69 cities in the report, Hong Kong ranks first at €23,790 per square metre. Zurich and Seoul follow at €22,910 and €21,897 respectively. At the other end, Cairo is the least expensive city surveyed at €784 per square metre, followed by Johannesburg at €913.
The report combines data from Numbeo and Deutsche Bank, with prices converted into euros using European Central Bank average exchange rates for the first half of 2026.
