10 Best Places to Buy Abroad 2025
Popular Greece and Cyprus push Florida down the rankings, Dubai makes its debut, and the Cote d’Azur is flavour of the year in France: does your favourite place feature in the year’s hot spots?
Bringing you our 10 Best Places to Buy Abroad index for 2025!
It’s that time of year again when we look back and analyse what’s gone on in the past 12 months and present you the latest rankings. We have taken a deep dive into your searches and enquiries for properties across aplaceinthesun.com to see where’s most in demand – and how much you are looking to spend. In a year of much tumult in the UK and indeed the globe, there have been no upsets in this year’s index – more a confirmation of developing trends, especially tax-driven and remote-working inspired moves. That said we have an exciting new entry at number 10!
1. Spain (➡️)
Spain remains firmly entrenched at the top of our Best Places index. Whether it’s the guaranteed sun, laid-back lifestyle, easy access and affordable property, or maybe the choice of residency options, it’s the top choice for movers and holiday home buyers.
Yet its steadfast popularity – and appeal to many different nationalities – means rising property prices and the average property search was higher than last year - £167,160, compared to 2024’s £154,608. It is interesting to note that whilst searches were up 19 per cent, enquiries were down, so it looks like plenty of you are in the early stages of looking.
Where do we want to go? Well our top five locations ping back and forth between the Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol. Great beaches and dozens of affordable apartments make Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca the top most-searched-for location (again), followed by the Costa del Sol’s increasingly popular Estepona, then back to the Costa Blanca with Villamartin, then Marbella and finally Orihuela Costa in the southern Costa Blanca.
2. France (➡️)
The budgets of Francophiles have risen by the biggest margin of this year’s index. The average search is £176,432, which is up 14 % from £158,249 last year, and actually back to near where it was two years ago. So how to explain this?
Well whilst £176k goes a very long way in parts of rural France, buying a detached home with plenty of land and even a gite or two in many tempting locations, the five most popular spots this year may give a clue about the bigger budgets. Nice might be top yet again but it’s something of a first that four of the five top five locations are on the Cote d’Azur – with Bergerac in the Dordogne the only outlier at number four. France’s sees the most dramatic change of hot spots of our index: out are the popular Poitou-Charentes, Limousin and Normandy and in are Cannes, Antibes and Mougins.
3. Portugal (➡️)
Now that the headline investor incentives and tax regime has gone, people are buying in Portugal because they love the country, and there are enough of those for it to remain at number three. The lifestyle, warm people and stunning coastlines remain the biggest draw – and the climate too, as the Algarve dominates property searches.
The average property search was 10% up on last year at £324,373, but you were focused on the similar locations as the year before – but with a stronger shift towards the western Algarve. That increase possibly reflects steadily rising prices on the Algarve – but interest remains on its more affordable fringes, not the central tranche, or ‘Golden Triangle’. Lagos on the western Algarve is top, followed by Cabanas de Tavira in the eastern Algarve, then Vila do Bispo in the far western Algarve, Praia da Luz and Luz.
4. Cyprus (UP ⬆️)
Cyprus has taken over from Florida as fourth place, perhaps an indication of its easier (and more affordable) access, and also tax advantages. That great climate, the lower cost of living and income tax incentives for retirees and company owners have all played their part in pushing Cyprus back up the index this year.
The typical budget is £205,014 – 5% down on last year. This will get you a nice apartment, or a two- or three-bedroom townhouse, depending on where you look. Where you are looking is again mostly around Paphos with Chloraka, Coral Bay, Sea Caves, and Droushia the same four as last year; with one new one: Drosia in the Larnaca area.
5. Greece (UP ⬆️)
It’s been a VERY good year for Greece with demand for its golden visa outstripping the applications for similar investor residency permits in other countries. In August we saw the thresholds for the visa increase so there was a rush to beat the deadline.
The average search budget was £229,318, down 5% on last year, but it will be interesting to see how demand shapes up in the next year now the €250,000 visa threshold has been strictly limited. Crete dominates our index as always, but this year’s outlier is not Zante (like last time) but Corfu Town. Cretan hot spots are Agios Nikolaos, Rethymnon, Elounda and Sitia – all on the northeast coast.
6. Italy (UP ⬆️)
We love Italy precisely because so little changes there. Ancient traditions and values remain intact, Its history at every turn, all those beautifully preserved villages and borgos where you can be lucky enough to buy a property for €1 if they are in the south. It’s gone up one place but the amount being spent is pretty bang on what it was before, give or take £200. £128,920: What does that buy? Well there’s a lot that is between €1 and €154,000 (£128k). Abruzzo or Sicily are definitely worth a look with the sweet spot budget, but our love affair with Tuscany remains strong – especially the more affordable part in the north. The top five is a tempting list of northern Tuscany and the South: Tuscany’s Bagni di Lucca is top again; followed by Scalea (Calabria), Puglia’s Ostuni, then back to Tuscany for Fivizzano and Cortona.
7. Florida (DOWN ⬇️)
Florida bounced back last year from seven to four, but this year has seen the reverse. However, Florida’s booming economy and property market have pushed up prices and it is perhaps not as affordable as it used to be; some buyers talk about the increased cost of air fares.
We are spending a lot less too: the average is £344,251, practically £100k less than last year’s £444,147. Search enquiries are up 53% so perhaps many of you are weighing up carefully the great options for holiday rental investments. Where we are looking to buy is certainly a list of the go-to tourism hot spots of the central Florida area where all the theme parks can be found: Kissimmee, Davenport, Orlando, Winter Garden, Reunion and Clermont. The fact that the Gulf Coast has disappeared may be because of hurricane concerns.
8. Turkey (➡️)
Turkey stays at number eight. It remains a popular choice for its affordability – when the Turkish lira has been low against the pound and the interest rate for those who have money in a Turkish bank is nearly 50%. So what is the average budget? At £166,086 it is slightly higher than last year’s £159,776 – this figure has been steadily rising year by year. It used to be the ‘cheap alternative’ to Spain, but this figure is now very similar across both countries.
But there has been a slight change in the most popular locations of the southwest coast. Out is Bodrum, still in are Ovacik and Altinkum, but the other three are all further east around Alanya: Mahmutlar is our top spot, but nearby Oba and Kargicak make up the five.
9. Bulgaria (➡️)
If you are looking to get a really cheap home in Europe, Bulgaria remains the favourite choice and remains at number nine. The average search in Bulgaria has actually dropped 13% from £41,131 last year to £35,487. Locations of most interest are topped again by Sveti Vlas, a Black Sea resort near Sunny Beach, and then it’s to the rural north of the country to Veliko Tarnovo province that includes Pavlikeni, and Polski Trambesh, and the top five concludes with Obzor on the Black Sea Coast.
10. UAE (NEW!)
Well for the first time ever, the UAE has crept into our Top Ten index, knocking out Malta. This is perhaps not such a surprise as the Dubai market is booming, with an increasing number of people deciding to relocate there (zero income tax, year-round sun and a high standard of living are a pretty tempting trio).
Yet it is intriguing that the average spend is £201,043 – a massive -56% drop on last year’s average of £459,883. Interest really is focused on Dubai, so what can you buy for £200k there? A studio, one or two-bed apartment, depending on the location. The top three most popular spots are all high-rise developments located within the popular mixed-use Business Bay area near Downtown Dubai. They are Executive Towers, Bay Square and Uboru Towers.
