Some Americans are done with the US housing market — and they're looking for adventure.
As Americans grapple with affordability, a record share of homebuyers are now considering a move to a neighborhood that better suits their financial needs. For many, that could mean relocating to the next town or state, but for some of the 15.3 million households that typically move each year — it could be even as far as another country.
To determine the 13 best countries for US expats to relocate as well as the housing costs for each market, Insider compiled data from three locations: the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Development Programme, and an analysis from financial site Finder. International Monetary Fund has the house price-to-income ratios for 58 countries. The Human Development Index from the United Nations Development Programme allowed us to look at citizen's likely quality of life for 57 countries that IMF had data for excluding the US.
An analysis from Finder measured the average cost of a 2-bedroom flat in the city-center of 106 countries, but we only focused on the 57 countries for which we had data from the IMF, excluding the US. After separately ranking the 57 countries by their house price-to-income ratio, their Human Development Index, and cost of an apartment, we took the average of the three ranks for each country. The country with the lowest average rank was then considered the top country based on the data we used.
In several countries on our list, Americans can expect to pay less than the US price of $256,645 for a 2-bedroom unit. Additionally, in places like Turkey and Cyprus — which offer buyers some of the lowest rates globally — wealthy foreigners can obtain one of the controversial golden visas, an immigration program that awards permanent residency or even citizenship with a real estate purchase, large donation, or investment.
Below are the 13 countries that had the lowest average ranks, sorted by the cost of a 2-bedroom flat in the city center among these 13 places. Although Finder's analysis was in pounds, the following costs were converted to dollars with conversions as of August 29.