Real Estate

The 10 most expensive cities to live in around the world in 2019

San Jose California
San Jose, California is one of the most expensive places in the world to settle down. Sundry Photography/Shutterstock
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The most expensive cities to live in around the world in 2019 have been revealed in the 15th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey.

The study analysed 309 housing markets (and 91 major markets with populations over a million) in eight countries — Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK, and the US.

To produce the ranking, it looked at data from the third quarter of 2018 using the "mean multiple" approach — the median house price divided by the median household income.

The survey shows that the most "severely unaffordable major housing markets" are currently in Australia, New Zealand, and China.

Scroll down to see the 10 most expensive cities to live in around the world in 2019, ranked my mean multiple in ascending order.

10. San Francisco, California, US — 8.8

San Francisco
Pius Lee/Shutterstock

9. Auckland, New Zealand — 9.0

Auckland_MercerBay_0110
Secret Escapes

8. Tauranga-Western Bay of Plenty, New Zealand — 9.1

Tauranga, New Zealand
travellight / Shutterstock

7. Los Angeles, California, US — 9.2

Los Angeles
Sean Pavone/shutterstock

6. San Jose, California, US — 9.4

San Jose California
Sundry Photography/Shutterstock

5. Santa Cruz, California, US — 9.6

Santa Cruz
Dale Cruse/Flickr

4. Melbourne, Australia — 9.7

melbourne australia
kitsada wetchasart/Shutterstock

3. Sydney, Australia — 11.7

Sydney simon rae 294339
Photo by Simon Rae on Unsplash

2. Vancouver, Canada — 12.6

vancouver canada nightlife
Viktor Birkus/Shutterstock

1. Hong Kong, China — 20.9

hong kong
Getty Images

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Ali is Deputy Editor of Life Insider. Based in the London office, she oversees and often personally contributes to Insider's lifestyle, entertainment, digital culture, health, and royals coverage, working with a team of reporters who cover travel, food, fashion, beauty, fitness, nutrition, relationships, film, TV, celebrities, and influencers, just to name a few topics. While in the UK Ali has previously been editor of The Daily Muse by Fenwick and sports, food, and drink reporter at Marketing Week. She graduated from the MA International Journalism course at City University London and is proud to be Canadian. You can follow her on Twitter at @AL_osaurus. Selected stories: I've visited the Greek island of Santorini twice — and if you think it's just a tourist trap, you're going to all the wrong places What it's like to have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a misunderstood illness that leaves people in wheelchairs and derails entire careers I moved from Canada to the UK 7 years ago, and while I love London, I can see why Meghan Markle prefers my home country I compared economy and premium economy on British Airways one week apart, and for less than $200, I'd upgrade every time I've lived in London for 6 years — here are the places where you should actually eat