House rents account for the bulk of monthly expenses per capita in Kuwait, with residents in the country spending on average 38.2 percent of their monthly expenses on rent, says a new survey into global rents.
Kuwait’s rental spending ranks the country third highest among the Gulf Cooperation Council, behind the UAE (39.85%) and top spot holder Qatar (43.7%).
The survey also found that the average monthly rent for a three-bedroom apartment in Kuwait is around KD476, while the monthly cost of caring for a family of four is about KD770, resulting in a total monthly expense of KD1246 per family.
In contrast, Saudi residents spend 19.07 percent of their total monthly expenses on rent, which is the lowest percentage in the world, followed by Greek residents who spend 19.73 percent on rent, and Turkey comes in third place with 20.11 percent.
In Hong Kong, with the highest rental costs in the world, the monthly rent works out to half of the total monthly expenses (50.25%). This is followed by Singapore with 47.08 percent.
The survey, which draws information from the cost-of-living database Numbeo, compares the average cost of renting a three-bedroom apartment in more than 50 global destinations with other expenses for a family of four, including food shopping, utilities, transportation, and entertainment.
With regard to countries where families spend the highest percentage of their income on rent, Azerbaijan tops the list at 71.49 percent, followed by Hong Kong at 65.80 percent, and Malta at 58.83 percent. By comparison, a family in Kuwait spends on average 42.89 percent of its income on rent, ranking 14th globally and second in the Arab world after Bahrain.