London and Monaco are Europe’s most expensive cities for residential property buyers reports Matthew Montagu-Pollock of Global Property Guide...

Global Property Guide has recently undertaken a comparison of average property prices per square metre across Europe.  The survey has revealed that Monaco is the most expensive location to buy an apartment in Europe with an average price of €24,900 per square metre in the Mediterranean principality.

London is not far behind.  In prime Central London locations, a super-luxury apartment can cost €14,522 per square metre.   Apartments in other luxury areas of Central London are likely to cost €7,199 per square metre.  The large difference is explained by London’s highly segmented top-end market, with super-luxury apartments in absolute prime areas commanding considerable premiums.

Paris and Amsterdam closely follow London with prices of €6,667 per square metre.

Moscow is Europe’s sixth most expensive capital for buyers of residential property.  Apartments in Moscow can be rather rewarding for buyers in terms of rental income returns.  However, Global Property Guide warns investors to be aware of the high risks involved in buying in the Russian capital (for example, purchases are cash-based and the authorities can suddenly turn hostile to foreign investors).

Dublin makes an appearance among Europe’s most expensive cities in 10th place, with average prices of around €5,000 for a high end apartment.

Baltics getting too hot?

After recently becoming Europe’s hottest residential investment destination, the Baltic states are now an expensive place to buy property.  A high-end apartment in Central Vilnius, Lithuania will cost on average around €3,792 per square metre.  Latvia follows closely with high-end apartments in Central Riga costing an average of €3,020 per square metre.  Rental yields in the Baltics have also dropped to very low levels, Global Property Guide claims.

There are still some very inexpensive capitals in Europe.  Berlin, in particular (€3,167 per square metre), is now experiencing inflows of foreign money in response to its relatively low prices.  But much less expensive are Slovakia’s Bratislava (€1,292 per square metre); Warsaw, Poland (€1,175 per square metre);  Skopje in Macedonia (€1,125 per square metre) and Chisinau in Moldova (€917 per square metre).  Global Property Guide expects that foreign buying in some of these capitals will accelerate.

Price per square metre is a common way of comparing property prices in continental Europe.

To view the full table of comparable data, go to http://globalpropertyguide.com/articleread.php?article_id=82&cid=