Ranking takes in cost of living, increase in property value
Portugal has come top in a new study on the ‘best European countries to purchase a second home in’.
The study by Compare The Market Australia analyses 34 OECD countries on what it calls ‘key factors’: the cost of living, increase in property value, the number of restaurants, beer prices and the cost of a taxi. (Beer prices must be a key factor for Australians).
Curiously, the study has not evaluated overall safety. If it had, Portugal might have scored even higher.
But to go to the results: “Known for its beautiful coastal towns, friendly locals, and relaxed pace of living, Portugal takes first place with a second home score of 7.27/10. Portugal scores particularly highly for its proportion of restaurants, with 349 per 100,000 and also scores well for its average cost of living too, coming in at around €553.37 per month”.
This is taken verbatim from the study. The average cost of living most people in Portugal will tell you is a great deal higher than €553.37 per month.
And this is where the study takes a strange slide. The next ‘winning countries’ are Hungary and Turkey. Indeed, the two share second place, scoring scoring 7.06/10. “House prices in Hungary have risen dramatically, more than doubling over the last 10 years, taking second place for the factor. In contrast, Turkey had the lowest average cost of living expenses at, €358.76 and can’t be beaten when it comes to both property resale and rent price increases, with a 175% increase in resale profits and a 95% increase in rent profits”.
Neither country is considered as safe as Portugal – far from it. The latest Global Peace Index, which sees Portugal as the 6th safest country in the world, ranks Hungary in 13th position – and Turkey right down in slot 145. Thus how this detail has been left out of a second home best destination report beggars belief.
Keep going, and 3rd position in this study that has two CGI anthropomorphic Russian meerkats as mascots is the Czech Republic, “with an overall score of 6.97/10” renowned for its breweries and consequently cheap beer.
The Czech Republic thankfully sits in 8th position in the Global Peace Index.
