While North Americans need 76 real monthly salaries to buy a 100 square meter (m2) house, families living in Nepal need to save the equivalent of 684 monthly salaries to buy the same house.

When analysing housing affordability around the world according to real monthly incomes (which take inflation into account), the figures show that a 100 m2 house in South Africa costs just 71 monthly salaries, while in the US it is around 76 salaries. “This is equivalent to about six years of annual wages and is the best result of the 62 countries we analysed”, conclude the international brokers at Best Brokers.

But the experts have one caveat: “With current real estate prices, many Americans feel that they would never be able to afford a home. And while this may be true in certain high-demand markets, it is not as universal when it comes to small cities. In fact, real estate prices in the US vary greatly from one state to another, as well as between cities and neighborhoods”, they explain in the same publication.

The housing affordability map shows that in other countries, a 100 m2 house can cost families much more. It is in Nepal and Turkey where it is the most expensive, with housing costing 684 and 631 real average wages, respectively. “This means that in Nepal, it would take 57 years of average wages to buy a house of this size. In Turkey, it would take 52 years and six months of wages”, they explain.

Bahrain is in third place with 100m2 homes costing 99 salaries, followed by Denmark, where residents would have to save their real salaries for around 114 months to afford a home of this size.