UK Spending Twice As Much For City-Centre Flats Than Rest Of Europe

City centre flats in the UK cost twice as much as in the United States and £100,000 more than in Europe, new research has found.

London is the second most expensive city across the globe for urban flats, coming it at £788,000, after Hong Kong where city-centre apartments cost £1.3 million on average. London is closely followed by Beijing at £676,000, Zurich at £670,000 and Shanghai at £667,000.

City apartments in London are much more expensive that the rest of Europe, however, the UK as a whole drops down to just the 16th most expensive nation in the world for a central flat. This figure is impacted by vibrant cities in the North of England, as buyers are able to get five flats in central Manchester for the price of one in London, at £144,000 each compared to £788,000 in the capital city.

The cheapest nation of the 91 countries with available data is Egypt where a two bedroom city centre flat only costs £27,000 on average. The cheapest city is Sumy in Ukraine, where a flat would cost £20,000.

“These statistics show that prices for a city centre flat in the UK are generally comparable to our European and global counterparts, says Jon Ostler, chief executive officer of finder.com. “London is very much the exception to this rule though, with a central flat being out of reach for young British people trying to get a foot on the property ladder.”