Whether it's the allure of adventure, new career opportunities, or a desire for greater affordability, a growing contingent of Americans are embracing expat life.
But that broader embrace of living abroad has caused real-estate prices to rise in some international hotspots. Take Portugal, which sunset its popular golden visa program in an effort to stem the tide of monied outsiders who turbocharged the real-estate market there. Of course there are still deals to be found — expat hopefuls just have to broaden their horizons.
Using data from Numbeo, a comparison website that provides crowdsourced summaries of the cost of living in major cities across the world, fintech company Money Transfers put together a list of the least pricey European cities on a square-meter basis for expats looking to buy property. Eastern Europe dominates the list.
Numbeo averages user-submitted expenses, including the average price per square meter for city-center apartments. While the methodology relies on users around the world entering their costs accurately, it is a valuable instrument for cross-city comparison.
For each European city, Money Transfers sourced the average price per square meter from Numbeo and then multiplied by 100 to get the average price for a "generously sized apartment" of roughly 1,075 square feet, said Money Transfers' Ben Mendelowitz. All prices have been converted to US dollars.
Money Transfers excluded cities in Ukraine and Russia from its list.