Citing the British weekly magazine Economist, it reported, “Only eight of the 39 European cities surveyed exceeded the benchmark of the Carrie Bradshaw Index, which evaluates whether average income can afford to live alone in monthly rent.”
The Carrie Bradshaw Index is named after the single female protagonist of the American drama Sex and the City, and the lower the 1st, the more affordable the monthly rent is, and the higher the income, the more affordable it is. It is calculated by comparing the average wage by city calculated by the think tank Economic Research Institute (ERI) with the average monthly rent of a one-bedroom apartment by city by the European Union (EU) statistical organization Eurostat. The media calculated how much the tenant needed to earn to settle the monthly rent within 30% of income, which is commonly used as a criterion for judging the appropriateness of housing costs.
As a result of this analysis, Geneva, Switzerland (102,000 euros) was the city with the highest annual salary to cover the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment as of last year. It was followed by London (94,000 euros), Stockholm (84,000 euros), Sweden (84,000 euros), Dublin, Ireland, and Oslo, Norway (80,000 euros each).
Georgia’s Tbilisi, Prague, Serbia, Belgrade, Budapest, Hungary, and Lisbon, Portugal, are among the places with high monthly rent due to the low index. Stockholm, London, Dublin, and Madrid, Spain are also below 0.7, while Munich, Germany, Paris, Geneva, and Copenhagen, Denmark are also below 0.9. Berlin, Germany (1.01) barely exceeded the standard, while Luxembourg, Vienna, Austria, Helsinki, Finland, Brussels, Brussels, Switzerland, Lyon, France, and Bonn, Germany, had relatively high wages compared to monthly rent. European cities are suffering from rising rents. According to an analysis by Catella, a European real estate company, as of the third quarter of last year, rents in 48 out of 59 European cities increased by about 3.1% year-on-year. In addition, the average monthly rent in European cities in the first quarter of last year was 20.02 euros per square meter. Dublin, Ireland (40.00 euros per square meter), London, England (39.30 euros per square meter), and Geneva, Switzerland (34.50 euros per square meter).
In response, the EU introduced a pan-European real estate measure called the ‘Suitable Housing Supply Plan’ last year. In December last year, the European Commission, which is equivalent to the EU administration, said, “The housing shortage is getting worse in most parts of Europe, so we need a solution that encompasses Europe as a whole. The supply of affordable housing is one of the most urgent challenges.”
SAM KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
