A Place in the Sun's Annual 10 Best Places to Buy Abroad Index
It’s been a dramatic year for sure but does your favourite place feature in the year’s hot spots?
Headline stories:
- Average buyer in Spain has £172k
- Cyprus up to best-ever number three
- USA up and searches widen outside Florida
- Most expensive searches for USA homes at £475k
- Montenegro makes its debut
- Spain and France still rank at number one and two
It’s that time of year again and we are delighted to bring you our 10 Best Places to Buy Abroad index for 2026! What has gone on in the past 12 months? Well where do we begin … our latest rankings have not been immune to the tumult of 2025.
As the year draws to a close we have again taken a deep dive into your property searches and enquiries across aplaceinthesun.com to see where’s most in demand – and how much you are looking to spend in each of the locations. There really are some interesting trends to pick out. Whilst Spain and France remain top of the rankings, the level of enquiries has dipped by around a third in both cases.
This might be explained by the high cost of living in the UK, stubbornly high inflation and the UK property market slump making it harder for people to buy a home abroad. Yet Cyprus has risen to number three, leapfrogging Portugal, for the first time ever. Why? Greater affordability aligned with greater tax advantages?
There are similarities between Cyprus and the United States, another that has risen up the rankings. In both cases property searches jumped up way above last year (53% and 41% respectively), yet also in both cases, these searches did not translate into property inquiries, which fell in both bases.
The other big news is that the little Balkan nation of Montenegro is in at number 10, displacing Dubai which made a brief appearance in last year’s Top 10.
Why Montenegro? Better affordability and more scope for long-term growth and development possibly explains this – for those seeking a base in Europe or taking the long view for investment it’s become an increasingly viable alternative as it moves towards EU membership in 2028.
So here is the full low down.
1. Spain
Spain is king, as ever, and in a year when the country’s economy and property market go from strength to strength, it’s rather apt. Guaranteed sun, laid-back lifestyle, easy access and a great choice of property options across all sorts of coasts makes it top for so many nations.
In fact according to national data, the Dutch have overtaken the British in Alicante province, the busiest part of Spain for overseas buyers. The result is rising property prices in most areas. The average property search was slightly higher than last year - £172,393, compared to last year’s £167,160.
Where do we want to go? Well our top five locations ping back and forth between the Costa Banca 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 (Jasmine’s recent TV series Renovation in the Sun may well have had an impact!) then nearby Marbella and back to the Costa Blanca with Villamartin, and Orihuela Costa in the southern Costa Blanca. This is pretty much a carbon-copy of last year’s state of affairs, but we are seeing Ciudad Quesada jump into the top five for enquiries.
SEARCH FOR PROPERTIES IN SPAIN
2. France
The budgets of Francophiles have risen by 14% in this year’s index. The average search has now topped £200k – at £201,527. Incidentally it rose 14 % between 2024 and 2025 too.
This is interesting as unlike Spain or Cyprus, property prices in rural France have remained pretty static. Is it because a greater proportion of people are looking to move there, so buying a bigger home?
Well £200k still goes a very long way in parts of rural France, buying a charming stone detached home with a garden and even a gite or two in many locations of southwest France. Yet there’s a very intriguing disconnect between where you are searching; and where you are enquiring.
The five most popular searches are solidly glamorous French Riviera: Cannes, Nice, Antibes, Mougins and Grimaud.
Yet whilst you might be window shopping these upscale locations, only Nice and Antibes translate into property enquiries. Above these two are Bergerac in the Dordogne, Carcassonne and Sauze-Vaussais in Deux-Sevres, a somewhat under-the-radar part of southwest France between La Rochelle, Poitiers and Angouleme.
SEARCH FOR PROPERTIES IN FRANCE
3. Cyprus
Cyprus has knocked Portugal from its long-held place at number three. It’s been rising since Covid, and has also overtaken USA since then, an indication of its easier (and more affordable) access, and also tax advantages. That great climate, the lower cost of living and ease of residency have all played their part in pushing Cyprus further up the index this year.
The typical budget has jumped up. It’s now £260,354, up 27% on last year’s £205,014. This will get you a nice apartment, or a two- or three-bedroom townhouse, depending on where you look, even a small villa in some parts.
Where you are looking however has changed not a lot. It’s predominantly Paphos area with Chloraka, Coral Bay, Sea Caves, Drosia (the Larnaca outlier) and Droushia the same as last year. But for enquiries, Kamares Village pushes out Drosia. This is an upscale development in Tala in the Paphos region.
SEARCH FOR PROPERTIES IN CYPRUS
4. Portugal
We do love this beautiful, laid-back country and its people but the fact that investor incentives and tax incentives has gone have perhaps had a little impact. The lifestyle, warm people and stunning coastlines remain the biggest draw.
The average property search budget was down not up on last year – which is something of a turn-around after recent years. It has dipped to below £300,000 – from £324,373 to £298,134. This is still the second biggest budget in our index – below USA (see below).
But what is newsworthy is the shift in interest from the usual Algarve dominance towards Lisbon. The top five searches were headed by Lagos in the western Algarve, but then followed by Leiria (Silver Coast), Lisbon and the Lisbon Coast, Porto and Castelo Branco, central Portugal.
With enquiries the Algarve remains king: Lagos led (again) followed by Vila do Bispo in the far western Algarve, Cabanas de Tavira in the east, and Bemposta (central).
SEARCH FOR PROPERTIES IN PORTUGAL
5. USA
Well we definitely remain a bit ambivalent about life across the Pond. Over the past three years, USA has bounced back from seven to four, fallen back to seven and now it has recovered to be number five.
How to explain? Donald Trump does flip-flop on world affairs but the USA’s booming economy and property market have pushed up prices but that is both an attraction and also an obstacle for buyers.
We are spending a LOT more too: the average is £475,109, up a hefty 38% from £344,251. Searches are up 41% but not everyone is serious: property enquiries are down 29%. Where we are looking to buy is very different: there is life beyond the Sunshine State with the other top four search locations Colorado, New York, California and Pennsylvania.
When it comes to enquiring, the old favourites of central Florida endure: Davenport, Kissimmee, Bradenton (Gulf Coast outlier) Orlando and Winter Garden.
SEARCH FOR PROPERTIES IN THE USA
6. Greece
Greece has slipped down a place, possibly because the entry point for the golden visa jumped up in popular locations such as Crete – from a relatively accessible €250,000 it is now €800,000 on the most popular islands.
The average search budget is up 9% from £229,318 to £249,798, and whilst searches are up, enquiries are down by 16%.
But Crete dominates our index as always, and whilst Greece always throws up a new hot spot, this time it’s not Corfu Town but Attica – the mainland region in which Athens sits. Enquiries are dominated by the Cretan hot spots: Agios Nikolaos, Sitia, Rethymno, Elounda and Chania – no big fat Greek surprises there.
SEARCH FOR PROPERTIES IN GREECE
7. Italy
Last year it went up one place, this year’s gone back down a place: we love its historic homes and charismatic lifestyle, but it cannot compete with other locations above on either tax incentives, hours of sunlight or ease of visa options.
The amount being spent is – again - pretty bang on what it was the year before, give or take £5000 – it’s £123,747, down from £128,920. What does that buy? Well are top five search locations provide a bit of everything from north to south: Tuscany, Abruzzo, Sicily, Lombardy and Apulia.
The top five for enquiries are a mix too: Tuscany’s Bagni di Lucca is top again; followed by Scalea (Calabria), San Siro (a small town in Lake Como not the Milanese football stadium) then Cianciana (Sicily) and Vagli Sotto (near Lucca again).
SEARCH FOR PROPERTIES IN ITALY
8. Turkey
Turkey stays at number eight – again. A popular choice for its affordability, but the average search budget has increased by 18% to £196,296. Ironically it used to be the ‘affordable alternative’ to Spain, but this figure is now higher than the average search in Spain.
But there has been a slight change in the most popular locations of the southwest coast. for enquiries: Ovacik and Altinkum are up there, but then there’s nearby Uzumlu, Mahmutlar and Kemer.
SEARCH FOR PROPERTIES IN TURKEY
9. Bulgaria
If you are looking to get a really cheap home in Europe, Bulgaria remains the favourite choice and remains at number nine. Yet it is not as cheap as it once was: the average search in Bulgaria has increased by a whopping 77% from £35,487 to £66,727.
Locations of most interest are topped again by locations in the rural north of the country in Veliko Tarnovo province: Pavlikeni, Polski Trambesh, Polski Senovets, Gorsko Kalugerovo and Nova Varbovka.
SEARCH FOR PROPERTIES IN BULGARIA
10. Montenegro
Well for the first time ever, Montenegro is into our Top Ten index. This is perhaps not such a surprise as it can be less expensive than both and provides more scope for long-term growth.
Of key interest is the Bay of Kotor, a fjord, lined with pretty historic towns, such as Kotor, Perast, Herceg Novi and then there is Budva and Tivat. The average spend is £170,844, and searches are up a massive 82% on last year, hence its entry into the index. Enquiries are up 54%.
The top five searches are all around those beautiful waterfront towns: Budva, Kotor, Tivat, Herceg Novi and Bar. Enquiries are dominated by Lustica, a beautiful peninsula with a large-scale resort, Lustica Bay.
SEARCH FOR PROPERTIES IN MONTENEGRO
