Where to buy property abroad
The five questions that decide it
The yield rankings you find online compare numbers built in different ways, often gross of costs that do not exist in the country next door. These five questions are about structural constraints instead: they can be verified, they rarely change, and they are almost always what decides the outcome.
Can you actually own the property?
It sounds obvious and it is not. In Thailand, for instance, a foreigner cannot own land: they can hold a condominium unit within a 49% cap on the building, but the villa in the listings is almost always something else. In the UAE and across most of Europe freehold is available, with no corporate structure in between. Elsewhere you buy a time-limited right of use: that can be a perfectly legitimate choice, but you need to know it going in, not afterwards. Before yields, look at what you are buying.
Who rents it out while you are away?
A yield on paper is a division. What you actually collect depends on who finds the tenant, who handles a burst pipe at eleven at night, who refurbishes between leases. In markets with a mature management industry that costs a known, predictable percentage. Where the industry does not exist, it costs your flights and your time, and that cost never appears in the original calculation.
Which currency do you collect in?
If you live in euros and collect in a currency that swings, the exchange rate becomes a variable in your return and you do not control it. The UAE dirham has been pegged to the dollar for decades, so your exposure is euro to dollar, one of the most liquid pairs in the world. The Georgian lari and the Thai baht are another matter: they can give you more, and they can take it back while you sleep. There is a separate page on what moving part of your capital into a dollar-linked area actually means.
What does it cost to get in and out?
Between transfer taxes, notary, agency and registration, a full round trip of buying and reselling varies widely by country, and in some European markets it eats the first years of return. It is the line no brochure prints next to the expected yield, and it is the one that decides whether a three-year hold makes sense at all.
How liquid is the market when you want out?
Buying is always easy: someone is highly motivated to help you. Selling is the real exam. A market registering hundreds of transactions a day gives you a reference price and a buyer within a reasonable time. A small market can offer an inviting entry price and then leave you sitting for a year, without even a comparable to tell you whether you are asking too much.
The destinations most often compared
For each one, why it gets considered, and the constraint people usually discover too late. On markets I do not cover personally I am giving you a judgement, not a data point: the difference matters, and it is stated plainly further down.
Spain
A large, liquid, legible market with a mature management industry and direct flights from everywhere. For many it is the choice with the fewest surprises.
The catch
Since 3 April 2025 buying property no longer gives access to the golden visa: the real estate route was closed. And short-term letting depends on municipal rules that differ city by city, sometimes changing mid-stream.
Portugal
Quality of life, climate, and an international community now well established in Lisbon and the Algarve.
The catch
Since October 2023 real estate has been removed from the golden visa in every form. Anyone buying today expecting residency is chasing a rule that no longer exists.
Greece
One of the few European countries where property is still a route to residency.
The catch
Since August 2024 the threshold rose to 800,000 euros in Attica, greater Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and the larger islands, limited to a single property of at least 120 sqm. In other words, it rose exactly where the market is liquid.
Albania
Some of the lowest entry prices within a two-hour flight, and a coastline that keeps drawing tourism.
The catch
A small, young market. The problem is not buying, it is reselling: comparable transactions are few, so setting the right exit price is more a negotiation than a verification.
Georgia, Batumi
Very low entry, a fast purchase process, and full ownership open to foreigners on residential property.
The catch
You collect in lari, and rental demand is heavily seasonal and tourist-driven. Two risks that compound in exactly the months the flat sits empty.
Thailand
Cost of living, structured tourism, and a condominium market used to foreign buyers.
The catch
Foreigners cannot own land. You can hold a condominium unit within the 49% cap on the building, but the 'freehold' villa in the listings is almost always a long lease or a corporate structure.
Bali, Indonesia
Extremely strong tourist demand all year round, with gross yields that on paper beat any European market.
The catch
Foreigners are not granted full freehold: you work with renewable time-limited rights of use. That is the first point to settle, not the last, but it is not a flaw that disqualifies the market. Within a portfolio that is already built, and with high income over a defined horizon as the objective, it can make perfect sense. What does not make sense is buying it believing you are buying freehold.
United Arab Emirates, Dubai
Freehold for foreigners in designated areas, a currency pegged to the dollar, a public transaction registry, and a ten-year residency route from AED 2 million.
The catch
The market moves in waves driven by launches: entering at the wrong point in an area's cycle costs more than picking the wrong country. It is the variable that weighs most, and the only one a brochure never shows.
United States, Miami
A deep market, solid contracts, and a management industry that works without you being there.
The catch
Recurring costs are the surprise: property tax, association fees and insurance weigh far more than in Europe, and in Florida insurance has risen considerably in recent years.
Italy, the benchmark
The market you already know: you speak the language, you can read a contract, and the risk you cannot see is low. That is worth more than people admit.
The catch
The price of that comfort is that your capital works where everything else already works: home, job and savings exposed to the same cycle. Buying abroad makes sense mainly as diversification, not as an escape.
Among the destinations on this page, the UAE remains the one where buying still opens a long-term residency route. Requirements, thresholds and process are here: UAE Golden Visa through real estate.
Where Dubai wins, and where it does not
Where it wins
- Freehold for foreigners in designated areas, with no corporate structure in between.
- A currency pegged to the dollar: exchange risk narrows to euro against dollar.
- Every sale is registered and published by the Dubai Land Department: you can verify prices rather than take them on trust.
- A mature management industry, built from the start for owners who live elsewhere.
- Service charges are competitive for what they deliver: for the same pool, gym, reception and upkeep, Italy or the United States generally cost more.
- The process can be completed remotely, with a power of attorney signed online before a UAE notary.
Where it does not
- If you want a European property you will also use yourself a few months a year, Dubai is not the answer: the flight and the summer heat count.
- The construction pipeline is substantial: in some areas a lot of units will complete around the same time, and that can weigh on rents in exactly those places. One more reason to pick the area on the numbers rather than the name.
- The market moves in waves: the same area can be a good deal or a mistake a year apart.
- Tax residency is a serious and separate matter: a visa does not determine it on its own, and it belongs with an accountant working across both countries.
Which market I can show you numbers on
On Dubai the data comes from the Dubai Land Department registry and updates automatically: sales, volumes, prices by area, with the history to compare the current year against previous ones. On the other markets on this page I give you an informed judgement, not a certified figure, and I would rather say so than let you assume otherwise. If you are weighing a country I do not cover, the most honest thing I can do is help you ask the five questions above.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the best place to buy property abroad in 2026?
It depends what you want from the property. For income and a clean exit you need deep markets with a mature management industry. For personal use, flight time and climate matter more than yield. For residency tied to a purchase, European doors narrowed considerably between 2023 and 2025. There is no answer that holds for everyone, which is why this page offers five questions rather than a ranking.
Is it better to buy at home or abroad?
They are different decisions. Your own country is the market you know, where unseen risk is low, but where your capital adds to wealth already exposed to the same economic cycle. Buying abroad makes sense mainly as diversification: a different currency, different demand, a different cycle. If you need a property you will use yourself, the answer is almost always close to home.
Which is the cheapest country to buy property in?
Among the destinations most often compared, the lowest entry prices are in Albania and Georgia. The point is that entry price is the least important variable: a cheap entry into a market you cannot exit is not a bargain, it is trapped capital. Look at exit liquidity first, price second.
Can I buy property abroad without moving there?
Yes, in every market on this page, but the process differs considerably. In the UAE the purchase can be completed entirely remotely, with a power of attorney signed over video call before a UAE notary. In other countries physical presence is required at least for the deed. It is a practical difference worth checking before choosing, not after.
Does buying property abroad save you tax?
Not automatically, and this is where the most misinformation circulates. Tax treatment depends on where you are tax resident, not where the property sits, and while you remain resident at home your foreign income follows your home rules. A visa or residence permit does not by itself move your tax residency. This belongs with an accountant working across both countries, before the purchase rather than after.
What does a property abroad actually yield?
Nobody can give you one number, and anyone who does is selling. The rent is only the starting point: what you keep depends on the months the property sits empty between tenants, on management fees, on maintenance and on the costs that come back every year. Those are what separate two properties that look identical on paper. The serious way to estimate a return is to start from the known costs of that market and subtract them from the rent, not from a percentage read in a brochure.
The market numbers, every Thursday
Lettera da Dubai: transactions, prices and projects from the DLD registry, read by someone working in the market. One email a week, nothing else.
If you have not picked the country yet
The questionnaire lines up objectives, horizon and budget, and tells you what makes sense for your profile. Including when the answer is to wait.