Table — Rents for a one-bedroom flat in six cities

The table compares one-bedroom rents in six cities in 2014 and 2024, and shows what share of an average salary that rent consumed in 2024.

Overall, rents rose everywhere, but at wildly different rates — from virtually no change in Osaka to a tripling in Lisbon — and the affordability column tells the sharper story: rent now swallows half a salary in Lisbon but less than a fifth in Osaka.

Lisbon is the extreme case on both measures: its rent jumped from $540 to $1,420 — +163 per cent, much the fastest rise — and at 51 per cent of the average salary, its flats are the least affordable in the table. Dublin recorded the second-biggest rise (+101 per cent) and, at $2,310, the highest absolute rent, taking 46 per cent of a salary. Berlin''s +79 per cent looks dramatic, yet its burden remains a more moderate 33 per cent.

The calmer half of the table rose far more gently: Seoul by 37 per cent and Houston by 34, with Houston''s burden at just 24 per cent thanks to high local salaries. Osaka barely moved at all — +5 per cent in a decade — and with rent taking only 19 per cent of pay, it is comfortably the most affordable city listed.