HousingAnywhere International Rent Index by City

Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Florence, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Rotterdam, Stockholm, The Hague, Turin, Utrecht, Valencia, and Vienna - Rental prices, October 2019

The HousingAnywhere International Rent Index for Q3 2019 once again shows that prices for European apartments, studios and private rooms are leveling out, with a few exceptions to the rule. While a rental ceiling seems to have been reached in the past quarter, the slower growing world economy and political uncertainties – such as the looming Brexit deadline – have made investors on the real estate market anxious for new investments, which in turn, is driving scarcity and pushing prices up even further.

Average monthly rental price for furnished one-bedroom apartments, private rooms, and studios.

1. Across all of the cities indexed for rental prices, Barcelona has shown the biggest overall increase year over year, just as in the previous quarter. Prices for apartments have risen by 8.55% to an average of €1243,- per month. Studios increased by 6.75%, and private rooms by 7.8%. However, Barcelona saw its steepest increase of the past year in Q4 of 2018 and prices have been leveling out since then.
2. Berlin holds second place among the climbers: Prices for apartments have risen by 7.41% to a monthly average rental price of €1132,-. Studios increase by 7.09%, and private rooms by 7.76%. Again, as is the case with Barcelona, these year over year results do not reflect the current trend of prices leveling out, with one notable exception: prices for studios have risen significantly in the past quarter by 5%.
3. Third place is held by Brussels with a rise in prices for apartments by 5.42% to an average price of €960,- per month. Compared to last year, studios increased by 6.81% and private rooms by 7.33%. Once again, this year over year increase was mainly fueled by climbing prices in the last quarter of 2018 and, at present, prices are leveling out.
4. Over the past year, Rotterdam saw a 5.17% rise in average rental prices for apartments, resulting in an average rental price of €1290,- per month. For studios, the increase came down to 7.70%, and private rooms 4.97 %. Over the past quarter, however, prices remained stable.
5. While investors have discovered the student housing market in the Netherlands, the shortage in affordable housing remains as pressing as ever. Amsterdam still ranks as one of the most expensive European cities, with average rental prices that continue to rise: year over year prices for apartments have risen by 5.66% to €1675,- per month, studios by 6.68% to €988,-, and private rooms by 5.03% to €615,- per month. Prices in the capital of the Netherlands do not seem to be leveling out, continuing the trend in the past quarter.

For this report, 11 new European cities were added to the HousingAnywhere International Rent Index, which are: London, Amsterdam, Munich, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Valencia, Florence, Turin, Utrecht, and The Hague. Of these cities, for which a number are known to be very expensive in terms of average rent, Amsterdam and Munich show the biggest increase in rental prices. This comes as no surprise, considering that it is a continuation of a visible trend over the past few years. They remain as popular as ever, and current developments, such as the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, are increasing the scarcity in supply even further. Djordy Seelmann, CEO HousingAnywhere:

Lack of supply is a factor predominantly in the lower-price segments – those particularly sought after by students and young professionals. While some municipalities are deploying measures to keep prices from rising even further (such as rental caps) they often overlook the real problem: the lack of supply. Therefore, the issue of housing remains as pressing as ever.

6. The city of Munich doesn’t have the biggest increase in rental prices, but does remain the most expensive German city in the Rent Index: over the past year prices for apartments have risen by 5.66% to €1507,- per month. Average rental prices for studios increased by 4.89% to €1025,-and prices for private rooms with 6,53% to €680,- per month.
7. Over the past year Turin saw a 4.37% rise in average rental prices for apartments, leading to an average of €870,- per month, making it the cheapest city in the HousingAnywhere Rent Index. Studio prices increased by 6.33%, and private rooms 5.27% compared to last year. Over the past quarter, prices continued to rise.
8. Copenhagen saw its average rental prices increase in 2019 by 5.35% for apartments to €1426,- per month. Studios saw a similar increase of 5.93% and an increase of 3.46% for private rooms. A continuation of last quarters' trend.
9. The political capital of the Netherlands, The Hague, saw its rental prices increase: rental prices for apartments have risen by 4.49% to €1208,- per month. Compared to last year, studios saw an increase of 4.99% and private rooms by 5.11%. Looking at the quarterly rental trends, prices for apartments are leveling out, but studios and private rooms are still slightly increasing. The Hague recently announced to set income requirements for tenants as one measurement to match affordable housing to people with lower incomes.
10. While rental prices in Milan seemed to drop somewhat in the second half of 2018, they started rising again in 2019. Year over year prices for apartments have risen by 4.77% to an average of €1158,-, prices for private rooms by 3.92% and prices for studios by 5.11%.
11. Stockholm has been one of Europe’s fastest-growing cities in the past years, increasing pressure on the real estate market. At the same time the municipality neglects to develop enough real estate in the lower price segments, driving prices even further. Year over year prices for apartments have risen by 4.53% to an average rental price of €1478,- per month. Prices for studios saw a similar increase of 4.71% and prices for private rooms increased by 3.53%.
12. Helsinki saw its average rental prices increase over the past year by 4.77% for apartments resulting in a monthly average rental price of €1398,-. Compared to 2018, private rooms increased by 2.25% and studios 5.62%. This trend continued in the past quarter, although prices for studios appear to be leveling out.

European cities that have the reputation of being expensive such as London, Stockholm, Helsinki, and Copenhagen see their rental prices increase at more or less the same rate as in the past years. While it is still too early to tell what effect a future Brexit will have on rental prices in London, a rental ceiling has not yet been reached in the other cities, and will probably not be reached as long as their popularity remains as it is. Seelmann:

Political inertia on the matter of boosting the development of affordable housing is not alleviating the housing problem in European cities. Across Spain and in Berlin especially, initiatives to steer the real estate sector toward new investments have come to a halt due to political indecisiveness. Despite initiatives aimed at putting an end to the spiraling prices, estate agencies are warning that the lack of rental properties on offer is only aggravating the situation.

13. Affordable living is becoming more and more important in Austria, and especially in Vienna. Real estate is very expensive and so cities and communities (that are already indebted) cannot afford to buy land and build real estate in the lower price segment. Prices have risen by 5.52% for apartments resulting in an average rental price of €964,- The high demand in the city for private rooms is visible with an increase of 4.68% compared to last year. For studios, average rental prices have increased by 1.93%.
14. Utrecht saw its average rental prices increase over the past year by 4.29% for apartments to an average rental price of €1288,- per month. Year over year, 3.18% for private rooms and 4.55% for studios. This trend continued in the past quarter, with prices for apartments showing an even steeper increase.
15. Over the past year, Florence saw a 2.72% rise in average rental prices for apartments to an average of €971, per month. Studios saw an increase of 5.19% and the average rental prices for private rooms increased by 3.05% compared to last year.
16. Average rental prices in Valencia have risen in the past year by 5.40% for apartments, 2.98% for private rooms and 2.51% for studios. This increase has continued over the past quarter.
17. Madrid has seen prices for apartments rise by 4.12% over the past year to an average of €892,- per month. Prices for studios by 2.19% and prices for private rooms by 4.52%. This has not been a steady rise, however, as prices have been fluctuating throughout the year. As Spain does not have an official government at the moment, implementation of new laws has stopped until the elections in November. Currently, the fluctuation of the rental prices in Madrid is higher than the fluctuations of the apartments for sale.
18. London has a great shortage of affordable real estate, while there is a surplus in expensive housing. While the municipality tries to counter this by subsidizing development projects for affordable housing, this does not seem to alleviate the problem and prices continue to rise: prices for apartments have risen by 3.49% compared to last year, resulting in an average rental price of 1730,- making it the most expensive city in the Rent Index. Although average rental prices have reportedly started to slow, the increase is still across the board, with an increase for studios by 3.57%, and private rooms by 3.16%. London has the lowest rental increase of all the cities ranked in the HousingAnywhere Rent Index.

About the HousingAnywhere International Rent Index

For this rent price index, HousingAnywhere analyzed 88,417 property listings, which were advertised on the platform between January 2018 and October 2019. To ensure the data is representative, properties that did not receive active interest from potential tenants, as well as listings that were considered outliers, were excluded. Properties deemed as too expensive or too cheap were not considered for this report as they threatened to skew the data. The report comprises cities that could provide a sample large enough for the data to be reliable. Data is shown only for single rooms in joined living arrangements, studios, and one-bedroom apartments. The report is also available in Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch.

About HousingAnywhere

HousingAnywhere is the world's largest rental accommodation platform for young professionals and international students with over 50,000 active advertisements and over 8 million users in over 60 countries. More than 150 partner universities recommend their students to use the HousingAnywhere platform. The Rotterdam-based technology scale-up employs 90 people.

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