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7 Golden Visa Property Markets, Ranked Worst to Best · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Seven Cities built the Golden Visa Property Story, where you could purchase real estate, get residency, and watch your value double.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: But things have changed.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: IMI scored all seven on pure real estate fundamentals with residency stripped out of the math.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And Europe's two most famous names landed at the bottom.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're counting down from worst to best.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Stay to the end for that one.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: It may surprise you.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: IMI's brand new Global Property Scoreboard grades 146 cities globally on their investment merits alone.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: The resident permit counts for nothing in the score.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Seven categories decide the total score.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Property fundamentals weigh heaviest at 30%, demand next at 20%, then costs, access, governance, macro, and resilience at 10% each.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Restricted markets absorb a further foreign ownership limitations penalty of three to eight points, depending on how tightly foreign ownership is restricted.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Elena Kozireva, managing director for real estate's projects at IMI official partner company Immigrant Invest, told IMI that buyers judge a purchase on price per square meter and projected yield, and that neither number decides long-term success.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: The factor she says they underweight most is exit liquidity.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: How easy will this be to sell in five or ten years?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start with number seven.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Athens scores two, the lowest of the seven golden visa property markets in this video, and one hundred and thirst out of one hundred and forty-six cities worldwide.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: That number may annoy people because Athens was the great value story of the last decade.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Western Europe's distressed market through the 2010s produced one of its steepest recoveries, with prices up well over 50% across the decade and more than 80% from the 2017 bottom in the strongest areas.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: The problem for anyone buying now is that the recovery already happened and any new buyers pay for it.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yields have fallen to about 3.9% in the center.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Round trip costs come to 12% to 17%, and governance scores the weakest of all seven cities.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Two things argue the other way though.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Prime prices are comparatively low at roughly 4,000 to$5,000 per square meter.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And Greece has suspended capital gains tax on property.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: The permit is the Greece Golden Visa, the most prominent real estate route in this video, and Athens is now its most expensive tier.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: The program requires at least 800,000 euros in the capital following the 2024 increase, and qualifying properties are barred from short-term rental platforms.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Title risk is higher than buyers from Northern Europe expect.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Between incomplete cadastra mapping, informal additions to older buildings, and unregistered inheritance chains.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Athens at least comes with a residency permit.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: The next city on the list no longer does.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Number six, Lisbon scores four, and posts the worst property score of the entire group at negative 10.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: A decade of demand outpacing supply pushed national prices to more than double since 2015, and Central Lisbon now trades near 6,000 to 7,000 euros per square meter.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: That appreciation compressed gross yields toward 4.6%.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Round trip costs totaled 12% to 17% once transfer tax, stamp duty, and fees are counted, and rental income faces a local tax rate of roughly 28%.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Porto, by comparison, scores higher at 9% on incidental cost governance, macro and resilience marks.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Even inside Portugal, the best known name is the weaker market.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Real estate was removed from the Portugal Golden Visa in 2023, so a beachfront home or city centre apartment now buys you nothing beyond the apartment.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Lisbon does not score among the strongest of the seven on access, governance, and resilience, so this is a stable place to own an asset.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: The longer-term risk is political.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Portugal has restricted new short-term rental licenses in its busiest parishes, and Cozariva warns that rules on short-term rentals, taxation, and foreign ownership can materially affect returns.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Which brings us to the other market where the permit disappeared.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, Madrid scores six.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: The Spanish capital posts the strongest governance score of the seven, with top marks for access and resilience.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it is a deep, liquid market led by owner occupiers rather than foreign speculation.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: On paper, the safest place in this video to park capital.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: The economics undo most of that though, as cost and demand scores are the weakest in the group.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yields are thin at about 3.9%, and round trip costs range from about 10% to as much as 20% once transfer tax, fees, and commissions are included.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Non-EU landlords also face a higher withholding rate than EU residents.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Moreover, there is no golden visa in Spain anymore.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: The government closed the program to new applications on April 3rd, 2025, under Organic Law 1-2025, which repealed the 2013 articles that created the route.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: The non-lucrative digital nomad and entrepreneur visas are what is left.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: One procedural drag deserves pricing in as well.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Spanish courts can take 18 months or more to resolve a non-payment case where tenants invoke vulnerability protections.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: A thin yield gets thinner fast when a tenant becomes a two-year court case.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, the full global property scoreboard covers all 156 cities and every category score behind them.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the tools inside IMI Sovereigns, our private community of entrepreneurs and high net worth investors comparing markets like these every day.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Link and a founding member discount are in the description.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, number four, and the yields improve considerably.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Limassol scored seven and it produces the second highest yield of any city in this video at about 6%.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: A price to rent ratio near 17 supports that yield, helped by mid-market districts such as Yamasoia, trading below the seafront luxury tier.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: It costs net out flat, no annual property tax, but a 20% capital gains tax on Cypriot property gains and total costs of 8% to 14%.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: The Cypriot Golden Visa program requires at least€300,000 in new property, plus 50,000 euros of annual foreign income.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Demand also recalibrated after 2022, when Russian buyers, once 30 to 40% of luxury purchases, pulled back under sanctions.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Access scores lower in Limersol than in any other city on this list, and both macro and resilience score negative.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: A heavy luxury tower pipeline will test high-end absorption, and the island depends on an isolated oil-dependent power grid where outages occur.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: A six percent yield in a city that loses power is a different six percent.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Everything above this point scores at least 18, and the jump starts in the Mediterranean.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Valletta scores 18, with its cost score matching both remaining cities.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Malta's capital anchors the Greater Valletta cluster of Slima, St.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Julian's, and Mesida, which is the market investors buy into.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Rental income is taxed at a 15% final withholding rate.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: The property transfer tax of 8% works as a low-rate capital gains tax, and there is no annual property tax.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yields come to about 5.3% in the core, at prime prices near 5,000 euros per square meter.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Demand rests on an unusual base for a Mediterranean island.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: iGaming employs more than 15,000 people in a country of roughly 560,000.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And land scarcity does the rest, since Malta has one of the highest population densities in the world.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Entry is no longer cheap though, with prices up 60% to 80% in Euro terms over the last decade.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: The Golden Visa Pathway is the Malta Permanent Residence Program, which requires a property purchase worth at least€375,000 or rent of 14,000 euros a year, plus a government contribution.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Non-EU buyers also need an acquisition of a movable property permit, routinely granted, but a step to plan for when building a portfolio.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: The top two are both in the United Arab Emirates.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Dubai scores 21 and ranks 25th of 146 markets worldwide.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: While things may change post-Iran conflict, this is where the data stands as of early 2026.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yield is where Dubai wins.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: The Cavendish-Maxwell data put average apartment yields near 7%, with villas closer to 5%.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: There is no income tax, no property tax, and no capital gains tax.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the dehums pegged to the US dollar removes currency risk for dollar-based buyers.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Total costs come to around 8%, with the 4% Dubai land department fee the largest single line.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: The permit is the UAE Golden Visa, which demands a property purchase worth at least 2 million derums, about$545,000 for a 10-year renewable residence permit with no minimum stay requirement.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Freehold ownership for non-nationals is limited to designated zones, which is the restriction the score board penalises.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Two weaknesses pull the score down.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: The tenant base is almost entirely expatriate, so rental demand tracks regional conflicts, business activity, and inward migration rather than a domestic owner-occupier floor.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Dubai posts the weakest resilience score of all seven cities.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Supply is the standing risk on top of that, with off-planned sales making up roughly 63% of 2024 transactions.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Even so, Dubai's fundamentals rank in the top fifth of the index, which leaves one city.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Abu Dhabi scores 30, ranks third of 146 cities worldwide, and wins this list by the widest gap between any two positions on it.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: This lead comes from property fundamentals and costs rather than from headline yield.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Abu Dhabi posts a property score of positive 10, far ahead of Dubai's, and the Emirate does not charge any personal income tax, property tax, or capital gains tax.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Total costs come to near 6%, the lowest of all seven cities.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yields are moderate at about 5.7% in the city centre, and apartment prices are near$5,700 per square meter, with quality product in Sadiat, Yas, and Al-Rim between$4,000 and$7,000.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: The gap from Dubai is mostly supply.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Abu Dhabi's pipeline is more tightly managed, which limits the oversupply risk that periodically weighs on its neighbour.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: The Durham's peg removes a variable Khazareva treats as decisive.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Real estate performance creates the return, she told IMI, and currency either amplifies it or dilutes it.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: The limits are significant though.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Foreign buyers can own freehold only inside those designated investment zones, which is exactly what the foreign ownership deduction prices and oil price sensitivity plus regional conflict exposure are the principal risks.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: The scoreboard grades the asset not the permits.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Valletta lead on fundamentals, but each one fences foreign buyers into designated zones or permit approvals.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: For someone whose first goal is a foothold in the European Union, a thinner yield can be a reasonable price.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the discipline is simple.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Decide which of the two purchases you are making.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: If the permit is the goal, its cost and conditions should drive the choice and the property is just the vehicle.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: If the asset is the goal, the fundamentals come first.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And on that test, the order in this video is close to the reverse of the popular one.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you want access to the people as well as the data and tools, IMISovereigns is our private community of entrepreneurs and high net worth investors, working through these decisions every day, golden visa programs included.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: If the asset is what you're after, we left one significant marker out of this ranking because it offers direct citizenship rather than a golden visa residency.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: In Istanbul, a$400,000 property can offer yield and appreciation.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: We broke down that market in a video on your screen now, including where to buy and what those returns look like.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Subscribe and turn on notifications so you catch the next one.