The $500K Question

Gizane Campos 0:03

Welcome back to the Be Global podcast, where we explore global mobility, investment migration, and the lifestyle decisions of internationally connected individuals. I'm your host, Shosani Campus, and we're going to anchor today's conversation around a very practical question. Where would you put $500,000 for second home and a second passport along with it? With me today are Adalberto Polke, our head of global mobility, and Liana Simonian, researcher at Global Intelligence Unit and lead author of our new briefing on holiday homes for high net worth individuals. Liana and Adalberto, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Hi Gisanne. Hi Liana, pleasure to join you.

Gizane Campos 0:59

Hello, pleasure to join you. Great. I'm glad you're all here because we are going to talk about the Global Intelligence Unit, a unit most recent briefing, which is called Best Places to Own a Holiday Home as a High Network Individual, the Lifestyle Lens.

How The Ranking Works

Gizane Campos 1:22

It's quite different, this one, so pay attention. It ranks 20 established markets worldwide across three pillars: prime property, lifestyle and desirability, and accessibility, and introduces four buyer typologies to capture why high net worth individuals actually purchase second homes. So the final result is the top 10, which seven of the 10 markets are European, with Spain and Portugal leading. So today, Liana will walk us through the methodology and Adalberto will share what this looks like on the commercial side. So the top 10 markets are it starts with Spain first, then comes Portugal, then France, and fourth, Italy, fifth, Japan, sixth, United States, seventh, New Zealand, followed by Austria, Greece, and finally number 10th, Switzerland. But we'll talk about each one of those countries in detail. But right now, I want to understand the methodology. There's something very interesting there, Liana. First explain to us what these three pillars examine, because you gave more importance to lifestyle and desirability at 45%, weighing it slightly higher than prime property at 40%. Tell me, in an industry that loves yield charts, why do you give lifestyle the heaviest weight?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Sure. So uh first about the pillars within lifestyle and desirability. Uh, the that pillar, the index, measures four things. Uh, within prime property pillar, we have financial indicators such as market appreciation rate, prime property price, uh, ownership tax rates, and ease of foreign ownership. And lastly, there is the accessibility pillar which measures air connectivity. Uh so to answer uh your question, since second homes for high net worth individuals are not primary residences and they are not pure investment vehicles. I would say they're in between. And here the lived experience is at least as important as the financial profile. This point is also highlighted in the literature on the topic, and as the data shows, high net worth individuals consistently prioritize spending on lifestyle, family, and experience. So, what drives a buyer to choose one destination over another is very often the climate, safety, quality of life, and the depth of the luxury infrastructure that the market can offer. And in this case, the methodology reflects that.

Why Lifestyle Gets The Heaviest Weight

Gizane Campos 4:19

That's a very good point, uh, Liana, because um the second home is not purely investment, so lifestyle also gears them towards a decision. So

What Clients Ask For In Europe

Gizane Campos 4:30

thank you. Now moving on, I'd like to speak to Adalberto of um, I'd like to speak to you, Adalberto, about the European destinations identified in the briefing, and which ones come up most often in client conversations.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Um, yeah, sure. Um, well, I believe three names dominate. So Portugal, Spain, and Greece. Portugal has arguably been the most consistent market over the years, and the Algarve, Lisbon, Comporta are perhaps what most international buyers ask about by name. Uh, Spain, however, comes very closely behind with very specific demand around Mallorca, Ibiza, uh, and Madrid. And I'd also say Greece has, you know, been the fastest growing uh in uh in our pipeline, driven primarily by uh the golden visa and the value proposition of its uh its islands.

Gizane Campos 5:28

Great, thank you. Um now I want to dig further and find out why Europe dominates this list. Liana, back at you. Seven of the top ten markets are European. Um, what does that concentration actually mean? And how do you explain it?

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Yes, uh so I would say that uh that dominance is reflected uh and documented across all three pillars of the index. Uh, if we take the prime property pillar, European markets combine relatively often foreign ownership requirements and they have relatively manageable tax environments. On lifestyle uh component, they score consistently high on quality of life, safety, and luxury infrastructure depth. France, for example, is the only market in the top 10 to achieve the maximum uh luxury infrastructure score. And uh when it comes to accessibility, European hubs benefit from a very dense intracontinental air connectivity. In this case, Norder region combines all three at the same level.

Why Europe Dominates The Top 10

Gizane Campos 6:42

This is very interesting. It is to me, it's clear that Europe combines all these elements that are so important in the property market. Now, let's move into another

When A Home Meets A Passport

Gizane Campos 6:54

perspective. When the second home meets the second passport? So, Adobe, in citizenship and residency planning, a second home rarely arrives in isolation. Sometimes it is property decision to actually drive the residency strategy or the other way around. Um, I want to ask you, has that balance shifted in the recent years, particularly with programs like Portugal's Golden Visa moving away from the property route?

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Um, it has. It used to be a very clearly property-led um market. A client would fall in love with the Algarve that asked how to uh you know get residency. Um, and for years the property route under the Golden Visa made that um you know very clean, almost uh like an automatic answer. Uh in Portugal's case, of course. Um that's no longer possible today. The residency strategy comes first, and in most of our conversations, um the property follows that. Uh, clients now contact us to help them identify the best country for their long-term residency and uh citizenship strategy, looking at parameters like safety, healthcare, taxes, and how that all aligns with their broader wealth management strategy. And from there we begin to narrow down the best um the best countries, the best areas uh where their home should be. Um Portugal is still winning a lot of these conversations, but uh through fund-based pathways now, not property. So, what that means in practice is that homes become a lifestyle decision, uh, free from the calculation and um you know, free from you know, the calculation of how much a visa uh investment requires. Um, so that's actually you know a much healthier way to look at the market and uh approach the market. Buyers are choosing destinations because of you know where they want to spend time rather than uh you know just a visa. So that essentially separates the two decisions.

Gizane Campos 9:05

Good, good, very good. Thank you, Adobe. That's clear. So we have covered the second home and citizenship investment. Now I'd like to bring another lens for our conversation today. Uh, let's talk about generations. We all love to talk about generations. Uh, you know, we've got the boomers, we've got the Gen X, the Millennials, the Z, and the Alpha that is now um going to school.

The Generational Wealth Shift

Gizane Campos 9:34

So one of the most striking data points in the briefing, Liana, is the projection that Gen X and millennials are set to inherit 4.6 trillion US dollars in global real estate wealth over the next decade, with the United States alone expected to capture more than half of that transfer. So this is data from Coldwell Bank Global Luxury 2026 trend report. Now that's an enormous structural shift city just over the horizon. How should we think about its implications for the holiday home market? And does the next generation actually want what their parents bought?

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Yes, so it is it is very interesting, and I would say it is also underappreciated in uh mainstream property analysis. Uh so the literature on dynastic wealth, particularly Higgins' work, uh, treats real estate as a preferred uh vehicle for intergenerational transfer. And uh that logic still holds. But the next generation inheriting these assets have different priorities, and I would say they have a different profile. So they are more mobile, more digitally connected, and they evaluate the holiday home through uh a different lens because they prioritize flexibility, optionality, and lifestyle feat uh rather than legacy feat alone. So that's part of why the amenity migrant typology that's introduced in the briefing is becoming uh more relevant in this conversation, especially. That is the type of a buyer for whom property acquisition is motivated by lifestyle. Uh, so it is uh changing and it is something to keep in mind. That's very good, Liana.

Gizane Campos 11:36

It's um it just shows how much work goes into uh creating a briefing that is complex and uh also encompass uh different, the most helpful data available.

Spain And Portugal Demand Drivers

Gizane Campos 11:53

Um now I want to go back to the ranking. So Spain is at the top. The briefing notes that international buyers account for over 70% of luxury transactions in Spain nationally and exceed 80% in primal coast, coastal and island locations. That is an extraordinary level of foreign demand. Liana, what is behind it?

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yeah, so uh in the briefing, Spain is the only market uh in the examined sample where the second where it holds the second highest market appreciation rate at 12.5% and it converges with the highest quality of life score at 84.8%. And that combination does not appear anywhere else. And if you add the weather and a market large enough to absorb uh serious uh capital without losing its character, the scores reflect all reflect all of that.

Gizane Campos 12:59

Thank you. Adalberto, on the ground, how does that translate?

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Uh Spain is what I would call an easy yes, with clients rarely pushing, uh pushing back on the country itself. Uh, there may be pushback on the neighborhood or the price, uh, but the fundamentals sell themselves, right? So the weather safety, the international community, connectivity, uh, and of course the cultural depth. Uh, so once a client visits, the question stops being should I buy in Spain, but rather where uh in Spain should I buy?

Gizane Campos 13:35

Very good. Now let's look. We're gonna go a bit faster now because I want to cover as many countries as possible. So let's go to the closest contender, Portugal. It sits uh just behind uh next geographically, and the country has the highest market appreciation rate in the entire data set at 17. So what is the appeal, Adalberto?

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Right, so Americans uh are now the number one nationality buying properties there. Um the Algarve alone accounted for nearly 30% of non-resident housing purchases in Portugal in 2023. Um, so while the property route under the Portugal Golden Visa is no longer available, the underlying appeal and other available mechanisms um um you know are structurally intact with the climate safety returns, the cost of entry. Uh so Portugal's still highly attractive to this uh group set.

Greece: Sunshine Plus Residency Pathways

Gizane Campos 14:38

Good, good to know. Now we're moving forward to um Greece, and I'm trying not to bring cliches, but it is a fact with Greece, right? So it comes in at number nine, and Mekanos, for instance, has 3,6637 annual sunshine hours, more than any other market in top countries. Liana, what does that translate to?

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Yeah, so roughly an additional month of full sunshine per year compared uh to the average of top 10 countries. Uh so for a second home, reusability depends on how much of the year you can enjoy the property outdoors. I think that it is a tangible advantage.

Gizane Campos 15:30

Me too. Now I'm gonna ask Silverto, what's the current outlook for Greece on your side?

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Well, it's one of the most open environments for foreign ownership in the top 10 countries. Um so the accessible pricing and of course the golden visa that, despite the recent threshold uh adjustment, requirement adjustment, uh, remains one of the most attractive in Europe. And the seasonal lifestyle plus uh a working residency pathway, that's uh you know, it's a very strong package.

Where To Start With $500K

Gizane Campos 16:05

That's most definitely a strong package. Now, talking about package, I'd like to get to the title of this episode. Adobe, imagine. Our client walks in and with 500,000 and wants a second home plus a residency pathway. Where does that conversation start?

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Um, well, I think it should start with questions and two questions in particular. Firstly, what is the second home actually for? Is it an escape? Is it for legacy investment, social access? And secondly, how mobile is uh the buyer's life? So, where do they uh pay taxes? Where are their kids? Where do they need to be um you know, three months a year? So at 500,000, um, you're not buying prime myconos outright, right? Uh, but you can structure uh you know an entry into Portugal, into Greece, uh, or some parts of Spain, and often combine that with residency pathways through existing mechanisms such as you know funds, uh, Comporta uh and Montenegro's Bay of uh Kultur are also worth uh having a look at at this uh entry level.

Gizane Campos 17:24

There you go. Good tip here for investors. Thank

What To Watch Next

Gizane Campos 17:28

you. Now, looking ahead, Liana, what should high net worth individuals be watching?

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah, so I would watch uh the amenity migrant typology since high net worth individuals are increasingly optimizing, not just for returns uh but for time, uh well-being, and optionality, and that profile is at the center of that shift. And I would also watch the emerging uh market entries that Adalberto just mentioned that did not make uh the top 10, Camporta in Portugal or the Bay of Cotor in Montenegro. And I think that uh considering this, the ranking will look uh different in five years.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

And can I just add, so in some countries, yes, uh so in some countries we see residency and uh property programs decoupling. So what is replacing it is a much more sophisticated fund-based or business-based uh pathway. Um, so the longer-term horizon residency, deeper due diligence, that's all part of the new uh reality, uh, which is good news, uh, of course, for serious buyers, and it really does filter the market and protects long-term value of uh of properties.

Briefing Link And Closing CTA

Gizane Campos 18:49

Liana and Adalberto, thank you both. This was really good. Liana, congratulations for such a uh thorough briefing and uh to our listeners, the full briefing, best places to own a holiday home as a high-new work individual is linked in the notes. Uh Liana and Alberta, sorry, I didn't give you a chance to uh greet our listeners, but it was great speaking to you.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

It's our pleasure, thank you.

Gizane Campos 19:24

Thank you. Thanks so much for having me. You're welcome. So if this episode helped you think differently about second home ownership, please subscribe, share, and leave us a review. Until next time, this was The Global.