Only two countries in the world make it cheaper to buy a house than to rent.
According to Oldypak Capital LP real estate 2022 report, which compares prices of renting and buying property, there are only two countries among the 39 analysed where making a monthly mortgage payment is cheaper than renting a house or flat: Finland and Italy. Based on the OSCE data, the website has ranked the most expensive countries in the world to rent or buy a home and named the states where the gap in payments is the widest.
Most expensive countries. The top three most expensive countries are:
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Iceland
To rent a three-bedroom property in Luxembourg would require an average of €2,640 and a mortgage payment of €4,000 per month. Not surprisingly, many people working here choose to live in the neighbouring countries of France, Germany and Belgium.
In Switzerland, renting a three-bedroom flat costs on average €2,874 a month, while the mortgage payment is €2,606. In Iceland, the same values are €1,791 and €2,297 respectively. However, Switzerland provides a high standard of living, while Iceland has an excellent health and education system, relatively low taxes and a clean environment due to its almost complete switch to renewable energy sources.
Renting and buying. The top three countries with the largest gap between mortgage payment and monthly rent are:
Luxembourg – 51.1%
Latvia – 42.5%
Slovakia – 42.3%
In Latvia, a month’s rent for a three-bedroom flat costs on average €512 and the mortgage payment is €730. In Slovakia, the rent of a similar apartment will cost €678, while the mortgage payment is €880 a month.
The top ten includes Portugal (41.2%), Hungary (40.9%), Russia (40.1%), the Czech Republic (40%), New Zealand (34.9%), Germany (33.5%) and Canada (32.6%).
According to Oldypak Capital LP real estate 2022 report, only two countries in the world make rent more expensive than mortgage payments. In Finland, the gap is 2.1%: renting a three-bedroom home costs €1,130 and paying a monthly mortgage costs €1,110. In Italy, the gap is even smaller: renting a three-bedroom apartment costs €885 and paying a mortgage costs €877.