It has become very difficult to buy even a small apartment in the center of most major cities — housing prices have markedly detached from the salaries of the local population. How many years on average do you have to work to buy a house? And how long in order to recoup the investment in real estate? Check it out next.

The Swiss bank UBS in its recent study «Global Real Estate Bubble Index» analyzed, in which cities of the world the highest risk of real estate market «bubble». Besides, the financial holding company has published many interesting statistics: for example, how many years you need to work in order to buy a home in major cities of the world, as well as in how many years an investor can return on his property if he will rent it.

So, it will take the longest to solve the housing problem in the following ten major cities:

1. Hong Kong, China — 24 (10 years ago it was 19)
2. Paris, France — 15 (10 years ago it was 14)
3. Tokyo, Japan — 14 (10 years ago it was 9)
4. London, England — 12 (10 years ago it was 8)
5. Tel Aviv, Israel — 11 (10 years ago it was 9)
6. Munich, Germany — 10 (10 years ago it was 7)
7. Singapore — 10 (10 years ago it was 11)
8. São Paulo, Brazil — 9 (10 years ago it was 11)
9. New York, USA — 8 (10 years ago it was 8)
10. Amsterdam, Netherlands — 8 (10 years ago it was 5)

As indicated in the study, to buy a house the fastest will be able residents of Madrid, Miami (they need 5 years), as well as Boston, San Francisco and Dubai (it will take about 6 years).

As for the payback on rental housing, these are the cities where it will take a long time to recoup the investment in housing:

1. Munich, Germany — 44 (10 years ago it was 30)
2. Hong Kong — 44 (10 years ago it was 32)
3. Tel Aviv, Israel — 44 (10 years ago it was 34)
4. Frankfurt, Germany — 42 (10 years ago it was 27)
5. Geneva, Switzerland — 40 (10 years ago it was 34)
6. Zurich, Switzerland — 40 (10 years ago it was 30)
7. Stockholm, Sweden — 33 (10 years ago it was 23)
8. Paris, France — 33 (10 years ago it was 28)
9. Sydney, Australia — 32 (10 years ago it was 19)
10. Amsterdam, Netherlands — 31 (10 years ago it was 21)

The fastest way to return your investment will be to buy real estate in Miami (14 years), Dubai (16) and New York (20).