In July 2008, the average price per square meter of housing in Moscow exceeded $6,000. The cost per square meter of luxury housing exceeded $9,000 (according to RBC news agency). According to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, as of mid-April 2008, the average price of 1 m² in a one-room apartment is London – $7900, Moscow – $5300, New York – $4740, Berlin – $2528, Dubai – $2500.
The average market price per square meter of housing for the 4th quarter of 2022 is set at: 166,044 ₽↑ ($2 749,69). The currency exchange rate on this date: 1$ = 60,39 ₽.
According to the UBS rating, in terms of net salary (salary after taxes), Moscow is ahead of Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Warsaw, Budapest and Bratislava, but inferior to Ljubljana and Prague. However, in terms of the net purchasing power of the population (after taxes), Moscow is inferior not only to Ljubljana and Prague but also to Bratislava and Tallinn. In this case, New York (100%) is taken as the starting point. For comparison: in Sofia, the net purchasing power is 25.4%, in Bucharest – 30%, in Riga – 38%, in Budapest – 41%, in Vilnius – 42.2%, in Moscow – 44.4%, in Tallinn – 46.4%, in Bratislava – 50%, in Ljubljana – 60.4%, in Prague – 62.1%, in Paris – 88%, in London – 91.5%, in Madrid – 97%, in Barcelona – 102%, in Vienna and Copenhagen – 111%, in Dublin – 126%, in Luxembourg – 131%, in Geneva – 136%, in Zurich – 144%. That is, the level of purchasing power in Moscow is approximately the same as in Budapest, Vilnius and Tallinn, but still far from the level of the capitals in Western Europe and North America.
Moscow is the most expensive city in the world (considering the cost of real estate) for foreigners according to Mercer (2006, 2007). Mercer’s annual ranking of the world’s most expensive cities focuses primarily on high-end goods and services that most of the middle class doesn’t purchase. These are the prices for renting elite foreign cars, for the services of domestic servants, for the clothes of world-famous fashion designers and for renting elite apartments in prestigious areas of the city.
Moscow is the first city in the world in terms of the number of billionaires living in it, according to Forbes magazine. According to the annual ranking of the rich, compiled by Forbes magazine in early 2008, Moscow for the first time outstripped New York and London in terms of the number of billionaires living in them. However, Moscow is inferior to New York in terms of the number of millionaires living in the city.
Moscow became the most attractive city in Europe for investment in real estate in 2008 according to the rating of investment attractiveness of the cities of the Old World, which PriceWaterhouseCoopers compiled. Moscow’s position in the list increased by 17, enabling it to take first place in the “company” of cities such as Istanbul and Hamburg.
In 2011, the international research company Mercer ranked Moscow 163rd in the ranking of the most comfortable cities for living, and 199th in the safest cities.
According to the cost-of-living index that Rosstat calculated in 2011, Moscow turned out to be not the most expensive city in Russia, “yielding” to some Siberian and northern cities.
In 2012, Moscow was ranked 42nd among cities in the cost-of-living ranking. This study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is based on price comparisons in 160 categories, including food, clothing, transportation, and even private schooling.
In 2019, Moscow took 120th place in the ranking of the most expensive cities in the world, compiled by the consulting agency ECA International.
