In the UK, more than 35 percent of the population rents rather than owns their home. Many British expats also rent their home, particularly if they’ve only moved overseas for a temporary period.

A new study from the Economist looked at Europe’s most affordable and most expensive cities for renters. The team used a guideline that suggests people should spend no more than 30 percent of their pre-tax income on rent to find how much people would need to earn to afford an average one-bedroom flat in their city.

London and Geneva tied as the most expensive cities for renters with people needing to earn over £75,000 a year to afford an averagely priced one-bedroom apartment.

Geneva was recently named as one of the world’s most liveable cities for expats, but it’s certainly not a cheap city.

However, the salary needed to afford a one-bedroom apartment isn’t far beyond the average wage in Geneva. The average wage was just £3,000 below the money needed for a one-bedroom apartment.

However, the situation was very different in London where the average wage was over £24,000 less than the money needed to rent a one-bedroom apartment.

London’s rental market is one of Europe’s most pressurised with Spareroom, a room finding service, finding there were at least three people competing for every room in December 2023.

The Economist reports that less than one percent of residential accommodation is unoccupied in both Geneva and London, making for a competitive rental market.

While the average salary needed for a one-bedroom apartment in Turkey’s Ankara was the lowest, the money needed still outstripped the average wage.

Bonn, a city in western Germany, was the most affordable for renters with people able to comfortably afford a one-bedroom apartment on an average salary.

Bern, a Swiss city, was also affordable for renters, with the average salary far above what’s needed to comfortably rent a one-bedroom apartment.

Although the wage needed to afford a one-bedroom apartment in Budapest is far lower than in London or Paris, it’s far above the city’s average wage.

Lisbon had a similar issue and many residents complain the city’s housing problems have been exacerbated by an influx of expats and digital nomads pushing up the price of rents.

Want to know why one expat felt they couldn’t live in Germany? An expat recently explained how the country’s inefficiency pushed them to leave.