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12 Real Estate Golden Visas Ranked by Rental Yield · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Most golden visas cost you money, but these 12 could pay you up to 8.5% every single month.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not only do you earn yield and potentially appreciation, you also walk away with legal residency on top.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: But local inflation, currency, and luxury price flaws typically eat into your earnings.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we did the research.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: In this video, we rank the 12 countries with highest average rental yields with active residency by investment programs.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you're asking to yourself, where can I buy property, get residency, and earn yield?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: The overlap is smaller than you might expect.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Most established golden visas sit in markets yielding 3-4% gross.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: The 12 countries in this video belong to a different group, however, with countrywide gross rental yields above 6% and program routes that turn that purchase into legal status.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: A bit about the data.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: The yield figures come from the Global Property Guide, and every percentage is gross and countrywide, which means individual cities can run materially above or below the headline number.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: The gap matters most where program thresholds force buyers into luxury stock because these yields almost always compress.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: We will also call out the real yield, which is gross yield minus local consumer price inflation.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: In high inflation economies, the two figures diverge sharply, sometimes brutally.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: A practical note before the countdown.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Every property in this video has to do double duty, qualify for residency, and generate cash flow.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: IMI Real Estate, by the way, has the world's only collection of property listings that qualify specifically for residency or citizenship programs.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: We'll show you a few during today's video.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Starting at number 12, Russia.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: The countrywide gross yield is 6.5%, with St.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Petersburg above average and Moscow below.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: After accounting for inflation of roughly 6%, the real yield is essentially zero, though.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Russia Investor Visa offers three property tiers.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: 20 million rubles, around$230,000, qualifies in 11 Far Eastern regions.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: 25 million covers St.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Petersburg and most of the country.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: 50 million is required for Moscow.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Investors receive immediate permanent residency and can apply for citizenship after five continuous years, plus a Russian language test.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: The program has badly underperformed its targets, attracting fewer than 50 investors since launch against an annual goal of 300 to 400.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Geopolitical reality has narrowed the applicant pool to CIS and East Asian markets.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: At number 11, the Bahamas.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: 6.19% gross, just under 5% real after low inflation.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: The Bahamas Economic Permanent Residence Program now requires a$1 million property purchase, raised from$750,000 at the start of 2025.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: $1.5 million qualifies for accelerated processing.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Investors receive permanent residency on approval and can apply for naturalization after 10 years, though that process is discretionary and slow.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: The$1 million floor pushes buyers into higher-end stock where yields compress below the countrywide average.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: The territorial tax structure is the appeal.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: No income tax, no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax, all under an English common law legal framework.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thailand sits at number 10, 6.49% gross, lifted to 6.57% real because Thailand has been in mild deflation.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thailand belongs on this list with a caveat.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: The long-term resident visa under the wealthy global citizen category requires personal assets of at least$1 million and a$500,000 in Thai government bonds, local companies, or property.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Real estate is one option among several.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: The LTR grants 10 years of renewable residency, but no statutory path to permanent residency or citizenship.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Foreigners cannot own land outright in Thailand.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Property purchases are limited to condominiums, capped at 49% foreign ownership per building or long-term leasehold arrangements.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Number 9.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Egypt.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: 6.72% gross looks good until you net out 15% inflation, which drops the real yield to negative 8.5%.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is the second program on the list where consumer prices outrun rents.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Egypt's citizenship by investment program requires a$300,000 real estate purchase held for five years, delivering immediate citizenship on approval.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: The full payment must clear through an Egyptian bank account and convert to Egyptian pounds before reaching the seller.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: At number eight, Saudi Arabia, 6.84% gross, with Jeddah running close to 8% and Riyadh closer to 6%.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: The premium residency investor visa requires the purchase of a residential property worth 4 million Saudi reales, roughly$1.1 million with no mortgage permitted.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Government accredited appraisers certify the value before approval.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: The reward is immediate permanent residency, typically within a month with no physical presence requirement at all.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: There is one practical wrinkle.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Saudi Arabia opened its general property market to foreigners in January 2026.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Buyers who previously needed premium residency just to access real estate now have other routes.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: A quick aside, because viewers ask this on every program comparison video, the pathway to citizenship is different in every one of these countries.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Some take five years, some take ten, some require a language test, some don't exist at all.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like in Saudi Arabia.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: IMI Sovereigns members get access to our citizenship catalogue, which maps the citizenship route through residency for more than 196 countries.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Check it out at IMIDaily.com slash IMISovereigns.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Number 7, Panama.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: 6.94% gross, lifted to 7.14% real because Panama closed 2025 in mild deflation.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: As a fully dollarized economy, the real yield in local terms is also the real yield in dollars.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: The Panama Qualified Investor Permanent Residency grants immediate PR for a$300,000 property purchase.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: The government scrapped a planned increase to$500,000 in late 2024 and has held the line since.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Physical presence is one visit every two years.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Citizenship becomes available after five years for most nationalities, one year for Colombians and Salvadorians.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Panama also runs a territorial tax system, which means residents pay no tax on foreign sourced income.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Government guidance has steered applicants toward new construction.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: At number six, Colombia, 7.01% gross with Bogota above average.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Real yield falls to 1.5% after 5.5% inflation.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: The Columbia Investor Visa requires a property purchase valued at 350 Colombian monthly minimum wages, which currently works out to around$165,000 depending on the exchange rate.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: The visa runs three years, renewable as long as the investment is held, and only requires one day of presence every six months.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Permanent residency follows after five.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Naturalization follows five more years for most nationalities.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: One year for Latin American and Caribbean citizens.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: 7.32% gross, with inflation above 30%, the real yield in Lira is negative 23.5%.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: That is the deepest negative on this list.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Turkey's citizenship by investment program requires a$400,000 property purchase held for three years.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Tens of thousands of investors have naturalized since the 2017 launch, making this the highest volume CBI program in the world.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: But our 2025 returns analysis found that while Turkish property prices rose 47% year over year in lira, 39% inflation and roughly 20% lira depreciation against the dollar produced real dollar value declines of 0.5% to almost 9% depending on location.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: A high gross yield in a depreciating currency does not survive translation into hard currency.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: For programs like Turkey, where rules and valuation oversight shift quarter to quarter, processing times and policy changes matter as much as the threshold itself.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: IMI Sovereign's members receive our quarterly private briefings and live processing time data on every CBI program, plus a community chat where members discuss what is actually happening on the ground.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: At number four, Georgia.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: 7.42% gross, 3.12% real after 4% inflation.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Georgia's investor visa offers two property tiers.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: A$150,000 purchase raised from$100,000 on March 1, 2026, leads to a one-year renewable residence permit.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: $300,000 opens a five-year permit, convertible to indefinite stay.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Permanent residency becomes available after six years of continuous physical presence, which means at least three-quarters of each year on the ground.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Selling the property or letting its appraised value drop below threshold triggers revocation.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Agricultural land does not qualify.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, Cambodia.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: 7.54% gross, 6.24% real.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Two route supply.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: The My Second Home program offers a 10-year renewable visa for a$100,000 investment in real estate or a Cambodian business with naturalization eligibility after five years.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Cambodia's separate citizenship by investment program requires either a$245,000 government donation or a$305,000 approved project investment for immediate naturalization.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: A December 2025 subdecree may have raised those CBI thresholds substantially.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Verify current figures before committing capital.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: The Cambodian passport carries visa-free access to roughly 56 destinations, none in Europe or North America, and foreigners cannot own land outright without Cambodian citizenship, which is the central wrinkle.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: At number two, Costa Rica.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Costa Rica is currently in deflation of roughly 2%, which lifts the real yield to 9.89%.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: That is the highest real yield on this entire list.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: The Costa Rica investor visa requires a$150,000 investment in real estate, movable assets, or a business.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: The qualifying asset list is unusually broad, extending to empty land, farmland, and even vehicles.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Permanent residency follows three years of temporary residency, but during that temporary phase you owe at least 180 days of physical presence per year.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Citizenship after seven years requires Spanish fluency and a test on Costa Rican history.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Costa Rica is not a low-touch program, but property taxes at 0.25% are among the lowest on the hemisphere.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, number one, the Dominican Republic, 8.53% gross, the highest on this list.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Santo Dominico runs 9%.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Real yield lands at 3.9% after inflation, however.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: The Dominican Republic Investor Visa requires a$200,000 commitment across eligible asset classes, with real estate explicitly on the list.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: The initial permit is one year, renewable in four-year increments.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: What makes the DR the most interesting program in this group is the accelerated naturalization track.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Investors who hold permanent residency and own qualifying real estate become eligible for citizenship considerably faster than the standard two-year permanent residency baseline.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Latin American and Spanish citizens qualify even faster.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Applicants do have to sit through a Spanish language interview before naturalization is granted.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: The Dominican passport offers visa-free access to roughly 71 destinations, which is below most Caribbean CBI alternatives.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: But the combination is rare anywhere.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: The highest gross yield on this list, an accelerated citizenship path, and a low$200,000 entry threshold.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to see what qualifying property in the DR actually look like at that price point, those listings are searchable on IMI Real Estate.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: If the gross yield and citizenship combination on the Dominican Republic caught your attention, there are a few European programs that pair real estate routes with something the DR cannot offer: a potential path to EU residency rights.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Three Balkan countries, Montenegro, Serbia, and Albania are on accession tracks to the European Union, the former being the closest, and currently offer real estate-based residency programs.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: We made a video on your screens now covering how to buy in before EU accession reprices these markets.
• 12:55
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