Barcelona, Madrid, and Donostia - San Sebastian were some of the most expensive cities to rent a house in Spain in February 2025. Barcelona, which is the capital of Catalonia, led the list with an average price of 23.7 euros per square meter. Madrid followed closely in the second position with an average square meter of rental residential property cost of 21.2 euros.

The Balearic Islands, Guipúzcoa, and the Community of Madrid topped the list of provinces of Spain with the most expensive house prices in December 2023. In the Balearic Islands, the average square meter house for housing was over 4,000 euros. In contrast, the cheapest province to buy a property in Spain was the province of Ciudad Real.

As of mid-2024, Montevideo ranked as the second Latin American and Caribbean metropolis with the highest cost of living index. The Uruguayan capital obtained an index score of 54.1, only second to Port of Spain, in Trinidad and Tobago, with 56.4 points. Monterrey and Panama City were the third and fourth most expensive cities to live in Latin America and the Caribbean that year, with scores surpassing 45 points each.

Zamora, Castile and Leon, were the cities with the most affordable residential rent in Spain in May 2023, with an average price that stood at six euros per square meter. Caceres closely followed with an average cost of a square meter of the rental home of 6.2 euros.

Malaga was the most expensive city for renting residential real estate in Andalusia, Spain, in October 2023. The average monthly rent stood at 13 euros per square meter in that period. Overall, rents in Andalusia were lower than the national average. Though the rental market in Spain has been on an upward trend, the majority of households live in an owner-occupied home.

Inhabitants of the Ibizan municipality of Santa Eulalia del Río needed almost 60 years of household income to pay off their mortgage in 2018, making this coastal town the least affordable municipality to purchase a property in Spain. In contrast, the most affordable area to purchase a home in Spain that year was located in Andalusia. Furthermore, the central region of Castile-La Mancha appeared several times on the list of most affordable municipalities to rent in Spain.

The most expensive coastal areas Out of the five main islands that comprise the Balearic province, three are listed as the most expensive coastal areas of Spain. Ibiza and Formentera’s coasts ranked as the least affordable coasts in terms of property prices, with their average price per square meter amounting to nearly 3.8 thousand euros. The Basque province of Gipuzkoa was the second most expensive coastal area of Spain, with an average price that reached approximately 2.35 thousand euros per square meter as of the first quarter of 2019.

Spain: the rebirth of a broken property market After a long period of time in which Spain’s real estate prices increased sharply, the market was hit by the global financial crisis of 2007, making the Spanish property bubble collapse and damaging home value. According to the European Mortgage Federation (EMF), real estate prices in Spain initiated a solid recovery in 2015, reaching 78.7 house price index points in 2018 from a lowest point of 70.8 index points recorded in 2014. The property market has made great progress, but it is still far off the rest of its European counterparts, and it is positioned, in fact, at the bottom of the European list of the EMF’s house price index, which is led by Sweden at 160.6 index points. In 2016, 200 thousand euros could still buy a 119 square-meter home on average in Spain, whereas it would only allow for a 50 square-meter apartment in France.

Barcelona was the most expensive city for rental industrial and logistics real estate in Spain in the first quarter of 2022. The annual square footage rent of a last mile logistics facility was 93 euros, while in Madrid, it was 65.5 euros. This also applied to medium box and big box warehouses and distribution centers. In Europe, some of the most expensive industrial and logistics real estate markets were London, Zurich, and Oslo, with annual rental rates exceeding 100 euros per square meter.

The average square meter price of new residential real estate in Spain was the highest in Catalonia and the Community of Madrid in 2024. In the second quarter of the year, both regions boasted home prices of over 4,000 euros per square meter. That was substantially higher than the average for the country, which amounted to 2,930 euros per square meter. Overall, house prices in Spain have been on the rise since 2016.

Some of the 21 districts of Spain’s capital city are well far off the 2,800 euros per square meter that Spaniards had to pay on average to purchase a home in 2023. The Spanish capital is home to some of the wealthiest districts of Spain, such as the historic Salamanca district, which topped the list at almost 7,000 euros per square meter. Rents in SpainWhilst Madrid’s districts had the highest prices for residential real estate, the Spanish capital was not the most expensive place to rent. Ibiza topped the list of the least affordable properties to rent, with households hypothetically requiring over 162 percent of their full income to pay off the rent. Located in the Andalusian province of Malaga, Marbella ranked second on the list, with over 156 percent of the full household income. Spain: the rebirth of a property marketAfter a long period of time in which Spain’s real estate prices increased sharply, the market was hit by the global financial crisis of 2007, making the Spanish property bubble collapse and damaging home value. It can be seen that real estate prices in Spain initiated a solid recovery in 2015, reaching 131.9 house price index points in 2021 from a lowest point of 96.27 index points recorded in 2013. The property market has made great progress, but it is still far off the rest of its European counterparts, and it is positioned, in fact, at the bottom of the European list of the EMF’s house price index, which is led by Czechia.

Barcelona was the most expensive city for renting residential real estate in Catalonia, Spain, in October 2023. The average monthly rent stood at 20.4 euros per square meter in that period. Catalonia was one of the priciest provinces for renters in the country. Overall, the majority of households in Spain live in an owner-occupied home.

Barcelona was the most expensive city to buy residential real estate in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia in October 2023. The square meter price of residential properties in Barcelona stood at 4,150 euros in that month, which was substantially higher than the average for the country or the region. Homeownership is important in Spain, with the majority of households living in an owner-occupied home.

Cadiz was the most expensive province for buying a house in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia in October 2023, followed by Malaga and Seville. In Cadiz, the average square meter price of residential real estate stood at about 2,800 euros - higher than the average for the country.

Valencia was the most expensive city for renting residential real estate in the Region of Valencia in Spain, in October 2023. The average monthly rent stood at 12.9 euros per square meter in that period. That was slightly higher than the national average. Overall, the majority of households in Spain live in an owner-occupied home.

Catalonia ranked as the Spanish autonomous community where purchasing a new home was most expensive, with an average of approximately 4,400 euros per square meter as of January 2023. The average prices of new property in provincial capitals in Extremadura was 1,300 thousand euros, the cheapest in the country.

Alicante was the most expensive province in the Spanish autonomous community region of Valencia with the average house price per square meter at 2,300 euros in October 2023. In contrast, Castellon was the most affordable at 1,250 euros per square meter. House prices in Spain have been on an upward trend since 2016, when they plummeted because of the financial crisis.

In 2024, in-person Spanish language tutoring offerings in Poland were most expensive in Ruda Śląska, at 82.56 zloty per one hour of teaching. At the same time, one hour of Spanish tutoring could be purchased for an average of 61.53 zloty in Rzeszów, which was the cheapest offer nationwide.

Port of Spain was the city with the highest restaurant prices in Latin America and the Caribbean as of mid-2024. The capital of Trinidad and Tobago scored 50.3 in the restaurant price index ranking that year.According to the calculation system used for the ranking, this means that people living in this city paid in restaurants around one third less than the inhabitants of New York City, the city used as the base for the index.

In a survey conducted by BVA in 2015, most of French people chose New York City as the foreign city they would like to visit on holiday. The Big Apple remains popular in France, despite being one of the most expensive holiday destinations in the world in 2018. New York City’s famous architecture, as well as the Statue of Liberty or Central Park, keep attracting thousands of French who want to discover the city that never sleeps.

The French dream of distant cities

It appears that when it comes to popular foreign cities, French tourists seem to have a clear preference for cities which are far from home. In this ranking, New York was followed by Sydney and Montreal. This trend follows another a ranking from 2015 about the most attractive countries for holiday. According to the French, the United States was ranked first, before Canada and Australia. However, the French are still able to dream of their European neighbors. Florence, Barcelona and Rome were among the most popular cities according to French tourists. Mediterranean countries like Spain, Italy or Portugal were also among the destinations French people considered going to for summer holidays. Proximity, organization and price explain why, even if the French dream of holidays on the other side of the world, they tend to spend their holidays in Europe or even in their own country.

Reasons for travelling in France when you are French

Some regions in France, because of their pleasant living environment or their closeness to the sea, are among the most popular for French tourists. Corsica, Brittany and Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur are three very famous tourist destinations in the country. It also seems that French tourists like to spend their holidays with family of friends, which could explain why most French people plan holiday trips in their own country.

London and Munich were among the most expensive cities in Europe for the construction of warehouses in 2024, while advanced manufacturing facilities were the most expensive in Amsterdam. Meanwhile, among the selected cities, Paris had the lowest construction costs for warehouses. However, construction costs do not always follow the same trends as commercial real estate in Europe, with sale prices differing significantly in some cases. Warehouse take-up in Europe These high construction costs in the largest cities probably affect the take-up of large warehouses European cities. Instead, Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK) came in first in 2023, with roughly 913,000 square meters of warehouse space spread throughout the municipality. Of the first ten entries, two werelocated in the UK, which makes it one of the most popular warehouse locations. Retail warehouse rental prices London was the UK region with the highest bix-box warehouse rent prices. As of the last quarter of 2023, roughly 28.5 British pounds were paid per square foot. This was more than twice the amount paid for the same type of buildings in the West Midlands. London was also the European city with the highest rent for warehouses, with Oslo and Helsinki following far behind.

At 8.07 U.S. dollars, Switzerland has the most expensive Big Macs in the world, according to the July 2024 Big Mac index. Concurrently, the cost of a Big Mac was 5.69 dollars in the U.S., and 6.06 U.S. dollars in the Euro area. What is the Big Mac index? The Big Mac index, published by The Economist, is a novel way of measuring whether the market exchange rates for different countries’ currencies are overvalued or undervalued. It does this by measuring each currency against a common standard – the Big Mac hamburger sold by McDonald’s restaurants all over the world. Twice a year the Economist converts the average national price of a Big Mac into U.S. dollars using the exchange rate at that point in time. As a Big Mac is a completely standardized product across the world, the argument goes that it should have the same relative cost in every country. Differences in the cost of a Big Mac expressed as U.S. dollars therefore reflect differences in the purchasing power of each currency. Is the Big Mac index a good measure of purchasing power parity? Purchasing power parity (PPP) is the idea that items should cost the same in different countries, based on the exchange rate at that time. This relationship does not hold in practice. Factors like tax rates, wage regulations, whether components need to be imported, and the level of market competition all contribute to price variations between countries. The Big Mac index does measure this basic point – that one U.S. dollar can buy more in some countries than others. There are more accurate ways to measure differences in PPP though, which convert a larger range of products into their dollar price. Adjusting for PPP can have a massive effect on how we understand a country’s economy. The country with the largest GDP adjusted for PPP is China, but when looking at the unadjusted GDP of different countries, the U.S. has the largest economy.