Florida is back big, we are looking to spend more money in Turkey than in Spain and France is still very Nice: the story of 2023
Bringing you our Top Ten Best Places to Buy Abroad index for 2024!
Regulars will know the score: each year we analyse searches for properties across aplaceinthesun.com to see which countries British buyers are most interested in when it comes to buying a holiday home or making a permanent move, and how much they are looking to spend. Well your tried and tested favourites don’t tend to change much and there have not been any major upsets this year either. But there are some fascinating nuances, some clearly due to the cost-of-living crisis, others perhaps not.
1. Spain
As sure as night follows day, Spain is top of our Best Places index. Is France hot on its heels? As much as French estate agents might wish it, the answer is no – Spain is pulling away like Max Verstappen in the F1 Championship. But it’s hard to beat Spain for that intoxicating mix of guaranteed sun, amazing scenery, laid-back lifestyle and property to suit all budgets. Around half of you are looking to make the move full time too – 2023 was the first proper year for the digital nomad visa in Spain – and it proved popular.
Property searches were only down 10% on last year and the average budget for a property has moved even less – it’s £154,608, down from £159,395. Where do we want to go? Great beaches and dozens of affordable apartments make Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca remain the top most-searched for location, followed by - Camposol in Murcia and then a re-run of last year’s Villamartin, Estepona and Marbella. Murcia getting in our top five is a sign of its growing popularity – prices tend to be lower than the Costa Blanca.
2. France
The budgets of Francophiles are falling! It’s slipped down from £181,888 two years ago, to £158,249 last year, and now it’s £148,086. This is perhaps a reflection that getting small mortgages in France is quite tricky for British right now – those shopping at this level are now often cash buyers.
But £150k still goes a long way in west, southwest or central France – and this is reflected in when you are looking – mostly! Clearly we have. a taste for sunny city living as Nice is top for the second year running – pied a terre by the beach, anyone? – but then we have some new places to shout about. Sauzé-Vaussais and Chef-Boutonne are both located in Deux-Sevres - showing how this department next to the popular Poitou-Charentes is gaining traction for its combination of value and accessibility. We have another new one: Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie in the Mayenne area in northwest France – just below Normandy. To complete the set we have the Brit-favourite of Eymet in the Dordogne.
3. Portugal
The year of 2023 will be the end of an era for Portugal as we saw the end of its low-tax regime, the NHR, and also the real estate type of golden visa. But for many, neither of those incentives were the real reason they love Portugal – it’s the lifestyle, people, and coastlines not destroyed by over-development.
We searched for properties for £292,903, down from £342,276 – but we were doing so in similar places as last year – Lagos on the western Algarve, Castelo Branco in central Portugal (the budget option), Paderne, Vila do Bispo in the far western Algarve (Atlantic seaboard) and lovely Cabanas de Tavira on the eastern Algarve.
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4. Florida
Florida is very much back! Last year it zoomed up the rankings from number seven to number four and we thought – was that just one-off, a post-Covid spike, its moment in the sun? No, the Sunshine State remains popular for its investment potential as much as anything – we have been seeing buyers motivated by incredible rental returns buying one or two properties as buy-to-let in the UK has lost is lustre.
We are spending big too: a super-sized £444,147 – up 17% from £371,949. Where we are looking to buy is somewhat less surprising: Kissimmee, Davenport, Orlando and Haines City are all central Floridian go-to’s. But in the middle is Sarasota, the Gulf Coast city that is wowing investors with its returns and vacation home buyers for its award-winning beaches.
5. Cyprus
Along with its Eastern Mediterranean neighbour, Greece, Cyprus is a top ten location where enquiries and searches have both kept up pretty well since last year, what with the geopolitical events to its north and south. That great climate, the lower cost of living and some good tax advantages have all played their part in keeping Cyprus a success. The typical budget is £214,841, which will get you a small villa, depending on location – and that’s increased from £204,733 last year.
And where are you most likely to want one? In similar fashion to last year, it’s all about Paphos area, it seems: Chloraka, Coral Bay, Sea Caves, and Droushia prevail – with one new one in the area: the village of Kallepia.
6. Greece
It’s been a good year for Greece with bumper tourism and a steady economy and it’s a solid six again for us. In fact searches are only a whisker (2%) down on last year and we have bigger budgets: the average search is for a property worth £268,590 – fatter than the £241,914 of 2022. It’s been moving on up: is it really coincidence that the Greek golden visa threshold is €250k (in most locations)? Its the most tempting golden visa option now the Portuguese version is finished, some might argue.
Crete tends to dominate our indexes for its size and variety – and this year is no different. In there are Sitia, Agios Nikolaos, and Elounda, showing just how popular the northeast coast is, but there’s also Rethymnon with the island of Zante (again) the Greek outlier.
7. Italy
Last year Italy had the biggest jump in enquiries in the index; this year it’s had a small drop, but it remains a magnificent seven. Or so some of you think. It’s hard to resist the history, the food and the wine, that wonderful approach to life, but where you are searching perhaps gives the best clue as to why we want a home there.
Affordable Tuscany still numero uno with Bagni di Lucca and Chianni (Pisa area) along with Scalea (Calabria), a dollop of Sicily (Cianciana), some Abruzzo with Gessopalena. So that’s central and southern Italy, within easy access of the coast - with an average budget of £128,734. That’s something of a drop from last year’s £178,372 so we are clearly tightening our belts in our search for bella vita.
8. Turkey
Turkey is crowned for the smallest (negligible) drop in searches – at 1% – in a year so it’s clearly a popular choice for its affordability – when the Turkish lira has been low against the pound. But interesting to note is that the budget is hardly dropping: whilst Turkey was usually the budget option for those who couldn’t afford Spain – now the search average of £159,776 is actually higher.
It’s been jumping up for a couple of years. So has where we are looking changed? It actually has. Although Ovacik and Altinkum will be familiar coastal hot-spots, we are looking much further east: at Avsallar and Mahmutlar near Alanya, and also (going west) at the Bodrum peninsula, with Guvercinlik.
9. Bulgaria
If you are looking to spend less than £45k than Bulgaria is popular, although you can get properties for that budget in any of the places above.
The average search in Bulgaria is £41,131 this year, down a little from last, and Sveti Vlas is top, followed by Pavlikeni, but also a new trio: Polski Trambesh, Pavel (all rural destinations in the north) and Obzor on the Black Sea Coast.
10. Malta
This highly populated little island has priced itself out of many people’s budgets, but remains in our top 10, just about. Strong historic ties with the UK, that great climate and also some tax perks run deep.
Two years ago we were looking with a budget over £300k, now it’s £257,161. And this year we are mostly looking around Xemxija – a quiet little suburb of the popular St Paul’s Bay on the north coast.
That’s a wrap, folks!
