In the mercurial world of the world’s real estate markets, there are a few givens on the global Monopoly board – that Hong Kong and Switzerland would dominate the world’s costliest cities across multiple categories.
Deutsche Bank’s 10th report, Mapping the World’s Prices–2026, which covers 69 cities across six continents, remains fairly static when it comes to global house prices, with Hong Kong retaining its top spot as the most expensive property market, despite prices being down 10% from pre-Covid levels.
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According to the German bank’s analysis, it costs an average of US $27,753 per square meter (HK$216,473 sqm) to buy an apartment in the city centre.
Deutsche Bank cites inflation, housing constraints, geopolitics and long-running structural changes as the crosswinds influencing Hong Kong’s top spot. “Hong Kong remains a global magnet for talent and capital,” Deutsche Bank’s research analysts said, adding that “the richest cities are not always the easiest places to live.”
Hong Kong’s resurgent luxury market rises on all fronts
Rising prime and super-prime inventory signals a renewed lease of life among Hong Kong’s luxury developers as the city’s top-end residential segment emerges from a multi-year slump.
Hong Kong saw 93 deals for luxury homes above HK$100 million (US $12.76 million) in the first four months of 2026, up from 37 the year before, with prices rising around 8% over the same period.
After Hong Kong, the world’s most expensive housing market is Zurich, followed by Seoul, Singapore, and Geneva.
Seoul ranks 3rd for the most expensive housing in the world, rising from 11th place over ten years. The Asian city has seen housing prices more than double over the past decade, highlighting South Korea’s persistent housing affordability crisis and leadership in tech driving demand.
Forces that have pushed Seoul into the ranks of the world’s most expensive cities are a mix of rising wealth, global attention, overseas investment, and a surge in investor confidence. In central Seoul, apartment prices now average around $25,875 per square metre.
Asian capitals cement global wealth hub status
Seoul and Tokyo were slated to lead global prices of prime residential real estate in 2026 in Savills’ latest Prime Residential World Cities report, with both Asian capitals cemented as luxury real estate hubs for international wealth.
Both cities have seen several luxury hospitality brands enter the market, with a strong pipeline of new branded homes including Aman and Rosewood in Tokyo and Seoul.
Completing the top-10 category for global house prices are Tel Aviv, London (which saw the fifth-largest decline across a decade), New York, Paris and Vienna.
Switzerland’s Zurich and Geneva remain among the world’s most expensive cities to live in, followed by three US cities – San Francisco, New York and Boston.
Tel Aviv signals resilience amid geopolitical uncertainty
Israel’s Tel Aviv, once a mid-priced Mediterranean city, has become more expensive in US dollar terms partly due to its stronger currency, the shekel, while the resilience of Israel’s tech and defence sectors, regional shortages, and the impact of regional conflict have pushed up its ranking across cost of living and real estate.
Israel’s capital is ahead of London in terms of housing prices. Apartments have risen by 136% over a decade, ranking sixth most expensive property market globally for cost of living.
Research shows that the Israeli capital is the most expensive city in the world to buy a McDonald’s meal, the equivalent of $20.90 for a McMeal, compared with $4.90 in Tokyo, once the world’s priciest city.
In April, Tel Aviv’s ultra-prime real estate market hit the headlines, with the $210 million listing of Bat Sheba’s Palace, a five-bedroom Mediterranean estate and Israel’s most expensive home to date.
Further underpinning Israel’s luxury housing market’s strong demand and resilience in light of regional conflict is a spate of ultra-high-end transactions.
Most notably, in January, American billionaire investor Bill Ackman purchased a luxury apartment in the branded Six Senses project the Rothschild 10 tower, one of the most prominent luxury developments in the city, for an estimated 70 million shekels ($23 million).
European cities still top liveability indicies
Notably, Japan, which was once known for its sky-high prices, has completed a remarkable structural repricing with housing costs down by 24% across a ten-year period – nearly a third of Hong Kong and Seoul, and half that of London.
If you account for taxes, Japan is also the cheapest place in the world to buy an iPhone.
Luxembourg topped the quality-of-life index which combines purchasing power, safety, healthcare, cost of living, property-price-to-income ratio, commute time, pollution.
Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Vienna and Munich also scored highly for quality of life, with Edinburgh in tenth place. London ranked towards the tail end of the report for the same metric.
