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$1,000,000 will buy you shockingly little prime property in the world's richest cities

Billionaire Guo Wengui, who is seeking asylum in the United States after accusing officials in his native China of corruption, poses at his New York City apartment on November 28, 2017. Guo Wengui wants 'a change of the regime' in Beijing and the introduction of democracy in the world's most populous country. 'I want to try and to have rule of law, I want to try and have democracy, freedom, that's my ultimate goal... A change of the regime,' he told AFP in a recent exclusive interview from his luxurious New York apartment facing Central Park.  / AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARY / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Catherine TRIOMPHE, 'Billionaire Guo Wengui wants regime change in Beijing'        (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)
Billionaire Guo Wengui, who is seeking asylum in the United States after accusing officials in his native China of corruption, poses at his luxurious New York City apartment that faces Central Park on November 28, 2017. (Photo credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

A Knight Frank report reveals just how much (or how little) space you can buy with $1 million in the world’s most expensive cities.

The global real estate firm’s annual Wealth Report looks at how high net worth (someone with a net worth of over $1 million excluding their primary residence) and ultra-high net worth (over $30 million) people park their money in property.

How much a million dollars gets you in big cities. (Source: Knight Frank)
How much a million dollars gets you in big cities. Exchange rates as of December 2018. (Source: Knight Frank)

Monaco most expensive city

Property prices in Monaco are considered among the highest in the world, so it’s no surprise that the study found that people get the least bang for their buck there, where $1 million can fetch about 16 square meters — or 172 square feet — the smallest amount among all the big cities.

High-rise residential property and hotels stand on the Monte Carlo coastline at dusk during the Monaco Yacht Show (MYS) in Monaco, on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. Over 125 of the world's most luxurious yachts will be displayed in Port Hercules during the 27th MYS which runs Sept. 27-30. Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
High-rise residential property and hotels stand on the Monte Carlo coastline at dusk during the Monaco Yacht Show in Monaco, on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. (Photo credit: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Runner-up: Hong Kong

Hong Kong is notorious for its tiny houses. Two-thirds of the city’s 800,000 public apartments are smaller than 430 square feet. But $1 million gets you a little bit more space in than in Monaco: around 237 square feet.

In this Thursday, March 28, 2017 photo, a resident who only gave his surname Yeung, takes rest in his "coffin home" in Hong Kong. In wealthy Hong Kong, there's a dark side to a housing boom, with hundreds of thousands of people forced to live in partitioned shoebox apartments, "coffin homes" and other "inadequate housing.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A resident who only gave his surname Yeung, takes rest in his "coffin home" in Hong Kong. (Photo credit: AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

New York and London

In New York, property prices have been rising at a steady rate according to data from Zillow, with home values up 4.9% year-over-year. The average square footage of a New York city apartment is 866 and above based on a 2016 report. So what can you get for $1 million? About 334 square feet.

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Across the pond, you’ll get about the same square footage. The property market in London has been struggling, offering very modest increases because of political uncertainty surrounding Brexit. Prices are expected to drop if no deal is reached according to a report by property website Rightmove.

Aarthi is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami.

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