2007 rent prices in Europe

In 2007, 70 cities have been surveyed in Western Europe (European Union and Western countries).

In this area of the world, all categories of housing are available and expats can thus really choose their place.

To establish our ranking, we have considered the average rent of a good quality 2-bedroom flat in an expat area.

Unsurprisingly, the highest prices have been registered in the Centre of London, but also in the Greater London area.
Expats have to spend 5000 euros on average for a flat in the centre of London and over 3000 euros in Greater London!

Rents in the centre of London are thus more than twice more expensive as in Paris or Amsterdam (ranking 3^rd and 4^th for this type of housing).

Please note that in Amsterdam we have only considered private rentals, since most expats have no other housing possibility.

Dublin has climbed to 5^th position, due to increasing prices during the last few years.

Then comes The Hague, second Dutch city, slightly ahead of Rome. As in Amsterdam, only private rentals have been considered in The Hague.

Two Nordic cities rank in 8^th and 9^th position: Copenhagen and Oslo. They are usually considered as expensive cities, but a moderate price increase has been registered in comparison with cities like London or Paris.

Our last top 10 city is Milan, just before cities like Geneva, Oxford or Luxemburg.

Budapest (14^th) is the first city of Eastern Europe, ahead of Prague (17^th) or Warsaw (24^th).

Vienna (21^st) is the last location where expats have to pay more than 1000 euros for a 2-bedroom flat.

No German location appears in the top 20: Munich is only 22^nd and Frankfurt 33^rd.

Madrid (19^th) is the only spanish city in the top 20, before Barcelona (25^th) or Bilbao (31^st).

The second French city, Nice, only comes 39^th, before Lyon, Montpellier or Marseille.

After the 50^th position, renting a 2-bedroom flat costs less than 675 euros.

The last positions of our ranking are occupied by smaller French or German cities like Nancy, Clermont-Ferrand, Poitiers or Aachen, less common in expat rankings.

2007 european Top 20

1	UNITED-KINGDOM	London centre
2	UNITED-KINGDOM	Greater London
3	FRANCE	Paris
4	NETHERLANDS	Amsterdam
5	IRELAND	Dublin
6	NETHERLANDS	The Hague
7	ITALY	Rome
8	DENMARK	Copenhagen
9	NORWAY	Oslo
10	ITALY	Milan
11	SWITZERLAND	Geneva
12	UNITED-KINGDOM	Oxford
13	LUXEMBURG	Luxemburg
14	HUNGARY	Budapest
15	FINLAND	Helsinki
16	SWITZERLAND	Zurich
17	CZECH REP.	Prague
18	SWEDEN	Stockholm
19	SPAIN	Madrid
20	UNITED-KINGDOM	Birmingham