Residential property prices are widely variable around the world.  In Hong Kong, it now costs more than $23,000 a year to buy an average square meter of living space, which is more expensive than the nearly $20,000 cost in Singapore.  Switzerland is the third most expensive country in terms of residential property, at $16,500 per square meter.

At the other end of the spectrum, each square meter of living space costs an average of $350 a year in Cuba, $607 in Venezuela and $610 in Egypt.  

But of course, people in the more expensive rental areas tend to earn more income per capita than the average citizen in Cuba, Venezuela or Egypt.  Some researchers decided to normalize these costs by determining how many days of average income would be needed in each country to rent a square meter of living space.  In the U.S., for example, they estimate takes just under 15 working days for the average citizen to afford the average cost of one square meter of living space.

Measured that way, the U.S. is hardly the most expensive.  The researchers found that in Germany, it takes 33.5 days of work, on average, to buy that square meter.  In the UK: 32.9 days; 32.5 days in the Netherlands, 31 days in Canada, 30 days in Sweden, 27.6 days in Belgium and 26.7 in Ireland.  

In Hong Kong, the average worker would require 150.5 days of income, while in South Korea, the figure is 110.6 days.  Chinese citizens must work 71.3 days for the same living space.

These, of course, are national averages, which tend to obscure very large differences inside each country.  But the overall point is that people in some nations must work longer and harder to afford their accommodations than others.

This article was written by an independent writer for Brewster Financial Planning LLC and is not intended as individualized legal or investment advice.