World property prices in relation to average salaries around the world
With property prices still increasing in the UK, and the dream of getting on the ladder becoming harder for so many, experts analysed property prices in relation to average wages around the world to reveal the most and least affordable countries in which to buy a home.
Key findings from analysis:
- Saudi Arabia, with an average annual salary of £15,000, and a 100 sqm city-based home costing £67,000 on average, is the most affordable place to buy a home
- The US is high on the affordable list, in third place, but the UK comes way down in 32nd position
- The least affordable place is Ghana – and infamously expensive South Korea and Hong Kong also feature in the top 10 hardest places to buy property
- Over 50% of the top 50 most affordable places are in Europe, 10 are in Asia and six are in North America
A new study from Roofing Megastore into property prices around the world has revealed the most and least affordable countries to buy a home in if you’re earning the average salary in that country.
The research shows Saudi Arabia, with an average annual salary of just over £15,000, and a 100 square meter (sqm) home costing just £67,000, is the world’s most affordable country to buy a home in.
To develop the ranking, the research team at Roofing Megastore calculated the average cost of one square meter of residential property in 109 countries around the world – the cost was then multiplied by 100 to show how much a 100 sqm home would cost on average.
To provide a more accurate picture of affordability, average earnings (after tax) were also factored in to show the annual salary as a percentage of the cost of a 100sqm home. To illustrate the vast difference between the most and least affordable places, the study also reveals how many years it would take to buy a 100sqm home on an average annual salary.
The Top 50 most affordable countries in which to buy a home
When taking earning potential into account, one full year’s wage in Saudi Arabia would in fact equate to more than 22% of the cost of an entire home, which means in less than five years, there’d be enough to buy a home outright if all of the salary was saved and not spent.
South Africa’s wage to home-cost ratio comes in at 18%, which takes second place in the top 50 list, and the US, with annual average salaries equalling over 15% of the cost of a home, is the third most affordable place to buy a home in the world.
A yearly salary in Puerto Rico is the equivalent of almost £16,000, and on average, a 100 sqm home costs just over £110,000 – so an average annual wage would be around 14% of the cost of a home.
United Arab Emirates is fractionally less affordable when it comes to property than Puerto Rico, and with an average home costing almost £177,000 and an annual salary bringing in almost £25,000, it rounds off the top five, in fifth position.
The world’s Top 50 most affordable places in which to buy a home:
| Rank | Country | Average price of a 100sqm home | Yearly salary GBP | Annual salary as a % of the cost of a 100sqm home | How many years it would take to buy a 100sqm home, based on an annual salary (if nothing was spent) |
| 1 | Saudi Arabia | £67,021.00 | £15,027.72 | 22.42% | 4.5 |
| 2 | South Africa | £68,458.00 | £12,441.12 | 18.17% | 5.5 |
| 3 | United States | £207,171.50 | £31,102.92 | 15.01% | 6.7 |
| 4 | Puerto Rico | £110,363.00 | £15,974.76 | 14.47% | 6.9 |
| 5 | United Arab Emirates | £176,851.00 | £24,037.56 | 13.59% | 7.4 |
| 6 | Palestine | £56,950.00 | £7,248.24 | 12.73% | 7.9 |
| 7 | Oman | £124,856.50 | £14,616.00 | 11.71% | 8.5 |
| 8 | Iceland | £284,045.50 | £27,864.48 | 9.81% | 10.2 |
| 9 | Cyprus | £129,848.50 | £12,402.12 | 9.55% | 10.5 |
| 10 | Qatar | £281,502.50 | £26,669.16 | 9.47% | 10.6 |
| 11 | Ireland | £287,569.50 | £26,041.80 | 9.06% | 11.0 |
| 12 | Denmark | £358,857.50 | £31,306.20 | 8.72% | 11.5 |
| 13 | Belgium | £246,952.50 | £21,121.80 | 8.55% | 11.7 |
| 14 | Canada | £295,275.50 | £25,180.92 | 8.53% | 11.7 |
| 15 | Australia | £382,233.00 | £32,103.84 | 8.40% | 11.9 |
| 16 | Netherlands | £311,492.50 | £26,128.32 | 8.39% | 11.9 |
| 17 | Mauritius | £53,086.00 | £4,410.24 | 8.31% | 12.0 |
| 18 | Bahrain | £165,440.00 | £13,610.04 | 8.23% | 12.2 |
| 19 | Sweden | £337,997.00 | £26,376.72 | 7.80% | 12.8 |
| 20 | Bulgaria | £74,116.50 | £5,720.64 | 7.72% | 13.0 |
| 21 | New Zealand | £331,389.00 | £25,442.88 | 7.68% | 13.0 |
| 22 | Latvia | £108,030.00 | £8,155.44 | 7.55% | 13.2 |
| 23 | Jordan | £67,568.00 | £5,096.64 | 7.54% | 13.3 |
| 24 | Trinidad And Tobago | £98,005.50 | £7,366.56 | 7.52% | 13.3 |
| 25 | Norway | £420,486.00 | £31,277.64 | 7.44% | 13.4 |
| 26 | Finland | £325,716.50 | £23,974.32 | 7.36% | 13.6 |
| 27 | Switzerland | £761,039.00 | £54,536.28 | 7.17% | 14.0 |
| 28 | Italy | £209,378.00 | £14,603.40 | 6.97% | 14.3 |
| 29 | Turkey | £49,395.50 | £3,396.96 | 6.88% | 14.5 |
| 30 | Mexico | £68,358.50 | £4,683.96 | 6.85% | 14.6 |
| 31 | Germany | £379,628.50 | £25,911.84 | 6.83% | 14.7 |
| 32 | United Kingdom | £356,940.00 | £23,655.00 | 6.63% | 15.1 |
| 33 | Spain | £207,998.50 | £13,709.52 | 6.59% | 15.2 |
| 34 | Iraq | £76,302.50 | £4,899.72 | 6.42% | 15.6 |
| 35 | Estonia | £183,164.50 | £11,645.64 | 6.36% | 15.7 |
| 36 | Kazakhstan | £57,871.50 | £3,654.72 | 6.32% | 15.8 |
| 37 | France | £368,845.00 | £23,261.04 | 6.31% | 15.9 |
| 38 | Malaysia | £114,585.50 | £7,175.88 | 6.26% | 16.0 |
| 39 | Bolivia | £69,929.00 | £4,296.36 | 6.14% | 16.3 |
| 40 | Greece | £124,005.00 | £7,438.68 | 6.00% | 16.7 |
| 41 | Honduras | £73,984.50 | £4,426.80 | 5.98% | 16.7 |
| 42 | Costa Rica | £109,043.00 | £6,465.72 | 5.93% | 16.9 |
| 43 | Romania | £100,047.00 | £5,922.48 | 5.92% | 16.9 |
| 44 | India | £66,095.00 | £3,880.80 | 5.87% | 17.0 |
| 45 | Libya | £100,375.00 | £5,882.52 | 5.86% | 17.1 |
| 46 | Kosovo (Disputed Territory) | £73,403.50 | £4,283.52 | 5.84% | 17.1 |
| 47 | Bosnia And Herzegovina | £92,580.00 | £5,176.44 | 5.59% | 17.9 |
| 48 | Moldova | £64,246.00 | £3,586.68 | 5.58% | 17.9 |
| 49 | Hungary | £131,542.50 | £7,260.72 | 5.52% | 18.1 |
| 50 | Austria | £376,826.50 | £20,518.08 | 5.44% | 18.4 |
The least affordable countries in which to buy a home
At the other end of the scale, it’s no surprise that infamously expensive South Korea and Hong Kong feature in the top 10 least affordable countries to buy a home in.
The number one least affordable place to buy a home though is Ghana – average property prices stand at just over £377,000, but the average annual salary is only around £2,500, which means it would take 149 years to save up enough to buy a home if none of the wage was ever spent.
It’s cheaper to buy property in Sri Lanka – on average a 100 sqm home costs around £157,000, but the average annual salary is also low at just over £2,000 a year. This equates to just 1.33% of the cost of a home and would take 75 years of saving and not spending anything at all, to be able to buy a 100sqm home.
Third place Hong Kong has the highest property prices in the entire study – netting out at more than £2 million for an average 100 sqm home. On average, a yearly salary in Hong Kong would bring in almost £28,000, which is the equivalent to 1.36% when compared to the cost of a home.
In fourth position is Jamaica (1.63%), and rounding off the top five least affordable countries to purchase a home when factoring in purchasing power, is Iran (1.72%).
Just outside the top five is infamously expensive South Korea. Average salaries stand at just below £20,000 and although this is higher than four of the top five least affordable places, a 100sqm home would cost almost £1 million, which means it would take 47 years to buy a home outright if you earned an average salary in South Korea and none of it was spent.
The world’s Top 20 least affordable places in which to buy a home:
| Rank | Country | Average price of a 100sqm home | Yearly salary GBP | Annual salary as a % of the cost of a 100sqm home | How many years it would take to buy a 100sqm home, based on an annual salary (if nothing was spent) |
| 1 | Ghana | £377,032.00 | £2,525.28 | 0.67% | 149.3 |
| 2 | Sri Lanka | £157,077.50 | £2,095.20 | 1.33% | 75.0 |
| 3 | Hong Kong | £2,045,824.00 | £27,874.32 | 1.36% | 73.4 |
| 4 | Jamaica | £341,877.50 | £5,583.36 | 1.63% | 61.2 |
| 5 | Iran | £156,547.50 | £2,698.68 | 1.72% | 58.0 |
| 6 | Philippines | £130,598.00 | £2,583.96 | 1.98% | 50.5 |
| 7 | South Korea | £926,201.50 | £19,617.00 | 2.12% | 47.2 |
| 8 | China | £430,354.00 | £9,261.00 | 2.15% | 46.5 |
| 9 | Argentina | £160,414.00 | £3,564.00 | 2.22% | 45.0 |
| 10 | Ethiopia | £76,535.50 | £1,734.96 | 2.27% | 44.1 |
| 11 | Kenya | £150,894.00 | £3,559.08 | 2.36% | 42.4 |
| 12 | Nepal | £72,804.00 | £1,925.88 | 2.65% | 37.8 |
| 13 | Indonesia | £97,834.50 | £2,621.88 | 2.68% | 37.3 |
| 14 | Zimbabwe | £105,745.50 | £2,843.04 | 2.69% | 37.2 |
| 15 | Taiwan | £462,373.50 | £12,589.68 | 2.72% | 36.7 |
| 16 | Thailand | £179,429.50 | £4,918.68 | 2.74% | 36.5 |
| 17 | Vietnam | £128,941.00 | £3,924.60 | 3.04% | 32.9 |
| 18 | Peru | £104,440.00 | £3,289.32 | 3.15% | 31.8 |
| 19 | Uruguay | £161,793.50 | £5,307.60 | 3.28% | 30.5 |
| 20 | Azerbaijan | £79,795.50 | £2,689.32 | 3.37% | 29.7 |
Gian-Carlo Grossi, Managing Director at Roofing Megastore, commented:
“Although in reality, it would be impossible to save 100% of your wage and not use any for standard costs of living, the length-of-time-to-buy equation serves to really illustrate the difference between the most and least affordable places to buy a home around the world.
“For so many, owning a home is a key goal in life, and yet the gulf between average salaries and the prices of homes in so many countries makes it impossible for lots of people.
“Our business exists to make it easier for people to improve and maintain the homes they’re lucky enough to own – so we wanted to highlight this property ownership issue to increase awareness so more people can find ways to buy a home in the future.”
To see the full research, and see which countries have the highest property prices and wages in the world, visit https://www.roofingmegastore.co.uk/cost-of-a-home.
Kindly shared by Roofing Megastore
