Where Every Country & U.S. State Wants to Buy Property

Sometimes the grass really is greener when you get to the other side. And sometimes — if you invest wisely — you’ll enjoy not only greener grass and bluer skies but a handsome return on the money you spend in getting there.

And crossing that fence to live abroad or out-of-state is a big deal right now. American ownership of overseas assets grew by 40% to $35 trillion during the first year of the pandemic. Meanwhile, 35,000 Brits continue to buy abroad every year despite the obstacles set by Brexit and Covid.

The strong dollar makes the idea particularly appealing to Americans. Overseas property is also refreshingly IRS-proof. The tax service overlooks foreign homes since it would be “unable to seize or force the sale of your second home in Belize, your penthouse in Colombia, your beach house in Brazil, etc.,” according to Forbes. “Lawyers, former spouses, friends, ex-employees, and so on are likewise stone-walled.”

But while those buying to invest undoubtedly have an eye on local taxes and profitability, there’s romance and adventure in buying a place in the sun, and cultural factors also contribute. For example, mass emigration from Italy to the U.S. in the late 19th century had an immeasurable impact on American culture — and today, Italy is the number one dream destination for American buyers, according to MoverDB.com’s new research.

We analyzed search data from around the world to identify which country each other country wants to move to the most.

What We Did

International moving experts at MoverDB.com used online search data tools to analyze the number of searches for properties in every country around the world and identify the most popular place in each country among foreign property hunters. And then, we did the same, looking at which U.S. states each state wants to move to.

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Key Findings

• Spanish property is the most sought-after in the world, with 34 countries searching for homes in Spain more than elsewhere.
• America’s first choice place to emigrate is Italy.
• But within America, more states are researching moving to Texas than any other state.

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Spain is the World’s Most Common Property Fantasy

Spain is the most desirable destination for property hunters, with buyers in 34 countries searching for Spanish homes more than any others. A pleasant climate, good cost of living and viable property prices are the lure for Europeans, while the golden visa reward for investments over €500,000 tempts bigger investors. Meanwhile, buying Spanish homes at record rates (a year-on-year rise of 76%), with Americans taking advantage of direct flights and amenable conversion rates, although Spain is not the destination that Americans are most interested in.

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America’s first choice destination is Italy, with buyers often using their own Italian ancestry to access visas. They are tempted not just by the culture, the climate and their personal connections to the country but by the relatively easy-going healthcare and education systems — although these are, of course, paid for through taxation.

British people don’t plan on such a long, transatlantic haul. The number one dream destination for UK property buyers is just over the Channel in France. While Brexit has made this dream more cumbersome to fulfill, the idea of being ‘a bit more European’ while picking up a bargain remains appealing to Brits and is particularly attractive to retirees wishing to pursue the good life without venturing too far from their home island.

Brits Are the Most Eager to Buy Property Abroad

If you’re curious to find out which nation’s people are most interested in moving to your country then the map below is for you. We looked at the number of searches people in each nation made for property in other countries. We then compared these searches to their population to discover which nation’s people have the highest interest, per capita, in buying a house in each country on Earth.

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People living in the United Kingdom appear to be looking for an escape. They search more frequently than any other nationality for properties in 22 countries, from neighboring Ireland to far-flung China. The nationality that’s keenest on buying in the U.S. is Swedish. There is a strong Swedish line running through America: as long as 100 years ago, the U.S. could count 824,000 second-generation Swedish Americans among its population.

Americans Want to Move to Texas

Texas and Florida are the most attractive states for out-of-state buyers in the U.S., according to our figures. Property hunters in 17 states search for homes in Texas more frequently than anywhere else, while buyers in 16 states prefer Florida. Notably, nowhere has one of America’s priciest states — Massachusetts, California, DC or Hawaii — as its first choice.

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Texas has proved to be a real draw for buyers over the past decade. In fact, the Texan population grew by four million between 2010 and 2020, with half of those people moving from abroad or out of state. The cost of living is 8% lower than the national average, and Texas is one of just nine states with no income tax — with Florida among the others. Florida was a famously attractive place to move during the pandemic and the fastest-growing state in 2022. Traditionally a draw for retirees, Florida’s climate and landscape have opened up to a new generation that can work from anywhere.

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Coloradans seem the keenest to escape, being top of the list for search traffic for property in Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming. “I think mainly the moving out of Colorado has to do with affordability, that’s the number one reason that I see that happen,” says Denver realtor Kelly Moye. Fellow realtor Sunny Banka says: “I’ve had many that will tell you that they’ve gone for freedom, because of some of the politics in Colorado and some of the changes that we are seeing, because of some of the political actions that have been taken, you know, at the state level and locally as well.”

In It for the Long Haul

Rental income and value appreciation may be the cherry on top for those planning to use an out-of-state or overseas property as a holiday home or hold on to it for retirement. But it is clear that when it comes to a decision of such momentous scale as this, personal preferences, cultural inclinations and ease of relocating are to be considered as carefully as price and potential income.

You can find our full data regarding who wants to buy where in the interactive table below.

METHODOLOGY & SOURCES

To create these tables, we began by making a list of countries and the languages spoken in those countries. We then translated the phrase “house for sale {country}” into every language, with each country inserted into the phrase.

Next, we used Ahrefs and its Keyword Explorer tool. Using the “Matching terms” feature, we gathered search volumes for every associated search query and associated each query with a particular country. This allowed us to identify the most popular place to buy a house abroad for each country.

Finally, we determined which country is searched most frequently for properties in a given country by comparing the ratio of the number of searches to the population. In this step we counted only the number of searches for the initially compiled keywords (i.e., we didn’t use the “Matching terms” feature).

We repeated the steps for the U.S. states, instead using DataForSEO and its Google Ads API.

The data is correct as of May 2023.

Also have a look at our guide to 2023 Container Shipping Rates.