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Buying a House Abroad: Summer House or Great Investment

Published

2 years ago

December 13, 2021

Buying real estate abroad is the dream of many people. Someone is planning a new life in a new country, someone wants to use an apartment or house by the sea as a ” summer house”, others are investing their savings to buy rental property or a subsequent sale, visit Modlust. In any case, with the reduction of tourist flow, buying such a home has become easier and cheaper. Let’s consider in our article, which countries are worth looking at in 2021.

Greece

Greece hit the ranking of the best places to buy a home steadily in recent years. The reason is simple – the relatively reasonable cost of square meters. According to analytical centres, Greek housing is the most affordable in the European market.

Most often, home buyers in Greece are former tourists who have fallen in love with this country. And they can be understood – the hospitable and friendly local population, mild climate, pine forests against the background of azure water, and the scent of orange groves. According to the EU Environmental Agency, Greece is one of the countries with the cleanest seawater in all of Europe.

The real estate market has a variety of properties – apartments, houses, villas in the famous resorts of Rhodes, Crete, and other tourist centres.

If you are looking for cheaper accommodation, you should pay full attention to Halkidiki. Halkidiki can offer foreign buyers a house near the sea at a price of $250,000, as well as apartments from $120,000. Isn’t it a summer house of dreams?

The only disadvantage of buying a home in Greece may be the real estate tax and the cost of buying it. Thus, in the process of registration of the sale of apartments in new buildings the amount of tax will be 23% of the value. During the transfer of ownership, you will also have to pay 10% of the price of the apartment.

Spain

If you are Buying a house in Spain it is important to hire a good estate agent that helps to find the best property for you. According to research on several analytical portals on real estate, most of the investments are in Spanish property.

This is due to the fact that after the prolonged crisis, when prices were relentlessly going down, the situation in 2016 has changed. Depending on the region prices began to rise by 1-5% annually, and the market began to develop actively.

But after the COVID-19 pandemic, you can find residential properties with discounts of up to 30-40%. Especially a lot of good deals on the secondary housing market, which has become the most susceptible to the pandemic. This is primarily due to the fact that more than 70% of homes in Spain are bought with mortgages, and lockdowns have dramatically affected the income of the population.

More and more ads marked “urgently” appear on the real estate sites and banks arrange the real sale of houses. So, the average cost per square meter in Spain by the end of 2020 was $2000, in the middle of that year it was about $2500. The current market situation is perfect for investments.

Turkey

Houses in Turkey have many indisputable advantages: year-round sunshine, sea, high level of security, reasonable prices, free secondary school education for children of immigrants with residence permits. At the same time, housing prices start at $50,000, and the process of registration of living space is quite simple. The disadvantages of buying a home in Turkey for some buyers may be the cost of taxes and registration of sale, as well as housing maintenance.

Buy an inexpensive apartment in Turkey, for example, in the Mediterranean resort of Alanya in one of its areas. In particular, these are Mahmutlar, Oba, Tosmur, and others. Apartments 1 bedroom + 1 bath stand at about $70,000. In the secondary market, you can find cheaper options, with the most diverse characteristics such as the area, location, infrastructure, and internal condition. It is difficult to talk about the benefits of investing in real estate in Turkey.

On the one hand, the country has been experiencing economic growth over the past 10 years. Therefore house prices are steadily rising. But at the same time, the currency (Turkish lira) has experienced more than once a fall against the dollar and euro. This can undermine the benefits of investment, especially in luxury properties.

Thailand

For the first time, it entered the top 25 popular countries. Couple more years of such growth Thailand will turn from an exotic to an ordinary destination for the purchase of a “summer house”. In favour of the “land of smiles” say low real estate prices (compared with European resorts), high rental yields (again, by European standards), and the growing number of new projects on the coast.

The main destinations for foreign property buyers in Thailand are two popular tourist resorts of Pattaya and Phuket.

Pattaya offers a very large selection of apartment complexes. High-rise construction is allowed here, so the supply exceeds demand.

In Pattaya, real estate prices are lower than in Phuket, but it brings a smaller income because of the large number of proposals. In addition, Pattaya is visited by 8 million tourists a year, and Phuket – 10 million. As for the prices – the minimum price for a studio in the developing area of Phuket starts from $90,000, and in the more popular tourist areas – from $100,000.

Thailand does not have such an indispensable attribute of the financial system as property tax, but when buying real estate you need to pay a mandatory state fee for the procedure of the owner registration

Summer house of dreams or Investment?

Buying a home on the beach abroad is a profitable investment of finances and this fact does not cause doubt even among the most pragmatic investors. Such a purchase promises many benefits – from not having to look for a hotel when planning a beach vacation to the possibility of obtaining second citizenship with all its benefits. Also, square meters by the sea are a profitable financial asset and can be a source of stable passive income.