Expat property investors are always looking for the best returns on their cash – but the information put out by firms selling homes is often confusing and contradictory.
A great resource for anyone looking to invest in one of the major foreign property markets that keeps reliable data has listed the top 86 markets for apartments worldwide.
The Global Property Guide has taken the statistics for apartments and crunched the numbers for price per square metre, monthly rents and annual gross yields so investors can compare like-for-like in different markets.
Of course, the figures are averages, so yields, rents and prices will vary between regions and even city neighbourhoods, but they are still a good indicator for how global property markets are performing.
The average gross yield for all the listed countries is 5.46% – which means all the nations from Poland up in the table (40th) beat the average gross return on investment.
Many of the top performers are surprise packages – for instance the tiny republic of Moldova ranks first with a 10% yield, while the UK is 84th with a miserly 2.09% – followed by Monaco and Taiwan propping up the table.
Most of the nations returning the best yields have the cheapest property prices per square metre and competitive rents.
| Global rental yields for apartments | ||||
| Rank | Apartments in | Price/sq. m | Rent/mo. | Yield/ p.a |
| 1 | Moldova |
€ 965 |
€ 965 |
10.00% |
| 2 | Jamaica |
$1,404 |
$1,369 |
9.75% |
| 3 | Egypt |
$831 |
$977 |
9.40% |
| 4 | Ukraine |
€ 2,807 |
€ 2,550 |
9.09% |
| 5 | Tanzania |
$700 |
$500 |
8.57% |
| 6 | Panama |
$2,015 |
$1,692 |
8.40% |
| 7 | Costa Rica |
$1,642 |
$1,147 |
8.38% |
| 8 | Jordan |
$1,326 |
$1,356 |
8.18% |
| 9 | Peru |
$1,306 |
$1,067 |
8.17% |
| 10 | Bahamas |
$3,632 |
$2,964 |
8.16% |
| 11 | Argentina |
$2,804 |
$2,261 |
8.06% |
| 12 | New Zealand |
$3,559 |
$2,856 |
8.02% |
| 13 | Ecuador |
$958 |
$756 |
7.89% |
| 14 | Mexico |
$2,635 |
$2,045 |
7.76% |
| 15 | El Salvador |
$1,189 |
$916 |
7.70% |
| 16 | Puerto Rico |
$1,365 |
$1,011 |
7.40% |
| 17 | Colombia |
$1,895 |
$1,400 |
7.39% |
| 18 | Madagascar |
$520 |
$320 |
7.38% |
| 19 | Aruba |
$1,455 |
$1,774 |
7.32% |
| 20 | Chile |
$2,517 |
$1,842 |
7.32% |
| 21 | Cayman Islands |
$4,163 |
$3,018 |
7.25% |
| 22 | Kenya |
$900 |
$1,616 |
7.18% |
| 23 | Nicaragua |
$1,342 |
$1,596 |
7.13% |
| 24 | Philippines |
$2,807 |
$1,982 |
7.06% |
| 25 | Indonesia |
$2,544 |
$1,794 |
7.05% |
| 26 | Trinidad & Tobago |
$2,334 |
$1,607 |
6.88% |
| 27 | United Arab Emirates |
$4,010 |
$2,660 |
6.63% |
| 28 | Macedonia |
€ 1,232 |
€ 787 |
6.39% |
| 29 | Brazil |
$3,916 |
$2,478 |
6.33% |
| 30 | Thailand |
$3,282 |
$2,065 |
6.29% |
| 31 | Uruguay |
$2,589 |
$1,590 |
6.14% |
| 32 | Morocco |
$2,101 |
$1,280 |
6.09% |
| 33 | Romania |
€ 2,371 |
€ 1,444 |
6.09% |
| 34 | Gambia |
$667 |
$330 |
5.94% |
| 35 | Hungary |
€ 1,831 |
€ 1,067 |
5.83% |
| 36 | Portugal |
€ 1,741 |
€ 1,004 |
5.77% |
| 37 | Netherlands |
€ 4,234 |
€ 2,404 |
5.68% |
| 38 | Japan |
$11,466 |
$6,341 |
5.53% |
| 39 | Poland |
€ 3,108 |
€ 1,711 |
5.51% |
| 40 | Latvia |
€ 2,156 |
€ 1,166 |
5.41% |
| 41 | Cambodia |
$2,913 |
$1,553 |
5.33% |
| 42 | Bulgaria |
€ 1,151 |
€ 607 |
5.28% |
| 43 | Denmark |
€ 3,933 |
€ 2,038 |
5.18% |
| 44 | Slovenia |
€ 2,573 |
€ 1,326 |
5.15% |
| 45 | Martinique |
$2,979 |
$1,524 |
5.12% |
| 46 | Turkey |
€ 2,905 |
€ 1,468 |
5.05% |
| 47 | Estonia |
€ 2,065 |
€ 1,024 |
4.96% |
| 48 | Australia |
$8,717 |
$3,592 |
4.94% |
| 49 | Guadeloupe |
$2,925 |
$1,445 |
4.94% |
| 50 | St Kitts and Nevis |
$3,496 |
$1,712 |
4.90% |
| 51 | St Martin |
$3,267 |
$4,000 |
4.90% |
| 52 | Slovakia |
€ 2,244 |
€ 1,094 |
4.88% |
| 53 | Malaysia |
$2,629 |
$1,282 |
4.87% |
| 54 | Bermuda |
$7,056 |
$5,597 |
4.76% |
| 55 | South Africa |
$3,993 |
$1,856 |
4.65% |
| 56 | Croatia |
€ 2,081 |
€ 948 |
4.56% |
| 57 | Serbia |
€ 2,239 |
€ 994 |
4.44% |
| 58 | Germany |
€ 3,306 |
€ 1,462 |
4.42% |
| 59 | Belgium |
€ 3,124 |
€ 1,361 |
4.36% |
| 60 | USA |
$15,284 |
$6,553 |
4.29% |
| 61 | Lithuania |
€ 2,373 |
€ 979 |
4.13% |
| 62 | Finland |
€ 6,220 |
€ 2,520 |
4.05% |
| 63 | Spain |
€ 3,630 |
€ 1,423 |
3.92% |
| 64 | Luxembourg |
€ 5,669 |
€ 2,180 |
3.85% |
| 65 | Italy |
€ 6,188 |
€ 2,376 |
3.84% |
| 66 | Austria |
€ 4,567 |
€ 1,741 |
3.81% |
| 67 | Russia |
€ 12,227 |
€ 4,649 |
3.80% |
| 68 | Canada |
$8,288 |
$3,047 |
3.68% |
| 69 | France |
€ 11,229 |
€ 4,074 |
3.63% |
| 70 | Lebanon |
$3,591 |
$1,623 |
3.62% |
| 71 | St Lucia |
$1,860 |
$1,108 |
3.57% |
| 72 | Cyprus |
€ 2,238 |
€ 780 |
3.49% |
| 73 | Czech Republic |
€ 3,758 |
€ 1,270 |
3.38% |
| 74 | Israel |
$8,258 |
$2,742 |
3.32% |
| 75 | Malta |
€ 2,748 |
€ 888 |
3.23% |
| 76 | Hong Kong |
$20,660 |
$6,198 |
3.00% |
| 77 | Switzerland |
€ 12,610 |
€ 3,703 |
2.94% |
| 78 | Greece |
€ 3,536 |
€ 1,016 |
2.87% |
| 79 | British Virgin Islands |
$6,469 |
$3,071 |
2.85% |
| 80 | China |
$6,932 |
$1,841 |
2.66% |
| 81 | Singapore |
$17,709 |
$4,276 |
2.41% |
| 82 | Andorra |
€ 3,330 |
€ 794 |
2.39% |
| 83 | India |
$11,604 |
$2,777 |
2.39% |
| 84 | UK |
€ 24,252 |
€ 5,078 |
2.09% |
| 85 | Monaco |
€ 39,273 |
€ 7,480 |
1.90% |
| 86 | Taiwan |
$7,112 |
$1,117 |
1.57% |
| Average: |
€ 5,426 |
€ 1,896 |
5.46% |
|
| Source: Global Property Guide | ||||
