Dublin had been crowned as the worst city in the world to find a place to live according to a recent study that was released on Tuesday afternoon.
Ireland’s capital city was in last place followed by San Francisco and Munich, out of a total of 82 cities surveyed in the Expat City Ranking 2019 by Internations.
A total of 86 per cent of people surveyed from overseas living in Dublin said they found it difficult to get housing, compared to an average of 32 per cent globally.
In excess of 20,000 people living and working abroad from their home countries participated in the survey. They were asked how happy they were with the cost of housing and how easy it was to find housing. This is the second year Dublin has topped the survey for having the least access to affordable housing.
“The cost of living is a turn off, it’s a nightmare to find an apartment to rent and equally so to find good childcare options,” one Brazilian respondent said. Another survey participant from Portugal said the rental market was so bad it was causing them to consider leaving the city.
Overall, Dublin ranked 72nd out of the cities surveyed, with quality of urban living, ease of settling in, finance and housing and urban work life all taken into account.
Dublin’s overall ranking was two points less than London (in 70th place), but achieved a higher score in the “urban work life” category for job security and work-life balance. However, London fared better in the quality of life, and finance and housing categories.
“A total of 88 per cent do not find housing in Dublin affordable, and a similar share of survey participants think it’s difficult for expats to find a place to live in. Additionally, about three in four survey participants rate the local cost of living negatively,” said Kathrin Chudoba who is head of studies with Internation.
However, the good news is international expats considered Dublin to be good for career opportunities. Dublin is ranked as the third best city in the world for job and career, behind Ho Chi Minh City (first) and Prague.
Check out the list of best and worst cities according to the Expat City ranking 2019 below:
The worst 11 cities ranked in the Expat City ranking 2019
82 Kuwait City
81 Rome
80 Milan
79 Lagos
78 Paris
77 San Francisco
76 Los Angeles
75 Lima
74 New York
73 Yangon
72 Dublin
The best 11 cities ranked in the Expat City ranking 2019
1 Taipei
2 Kuala Lumpur
3 Ho Chi Minh City
4 Singapore
5 Montreal
6 Lisbon
7 Barcelona
8 Zug
9 The Hague
10 Basel
11 Aachen
Source: The Irish Times