Americans Who Can’t Afford Homes Moving to EU (Patreon)

This does not come as a surprise given cost of living in some places in Europe and now with weak EURO... and crushed economy real estate is far less expensive in some locations. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-20/americans-moving-to-europe-housing-prices-and-strong-dollar-fuel-relocations

Americans Who Can’t Afford Homes Are Moving to Europe Instead

Prohibitive housing prices, a strong dollar and political rancor have contributed to a wave of Americans relocating to Europe.

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More Americans are relocating to Europe, driven across the Atlantic by the rising cost of living, inflated house prices, a surging dollar and political rancor at home.

Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece and France are among the most popular destinations. Sotheby’s International Realty said requests from Americans looking to move to Greece rose 40% in the April-to-June period compared to a year earlier. In France and Italy, US demand is the highest it’s been in at least three years, according to Knight Frank real estate specialist Jack Harris. And Americans made up 12% of Sotheby’s Italian revenue in the first quarter, compared to just 5% in the same period a year ago.

<figure>Portugal is one of Americans' favorite new destinations
Source: Portuguese Immigration and Borders Services</figure>

Retirees and the wealthy have traditionally been the prime American buyers of real estate in Europe. But relatively cheap housing — particularly in smaller cities and towns — and the rise of remote work have made the continent alluring to a wider range of people, including those who are younger and find themselves priced out of the housing market at home. Growing crime rates in some US cities and political divisions have also led Americans to look across the pond for a quieter lifestyle, buoyed by a euro that just dropped to parity with the US dollar for the first time in more than 20 years.

‘Bella Vita’

For Atlanta-based Stephanie Synclair, 40, buying a home in Italy was a long-time dream that came true this April.

Paying $3,000 a month to rent a four-bedroom house for herself and her son in Atlanta, she found it impossible to scale up and become a homeowner as prices skyrocketed, even though she had $300,000 of cash on hand.

She turned to Italy, a country she always loved, and was able to buy a 3,100-square-foot house in Mussomeli, Sicily, as well as a smaller home next door and an 800-square-foot storefront — all for 60,000 euros.

<figure>Stephanie Synclair in front of her new home in ItalyCourtesy of Stephanie Synclair</figure>

“I would never have looked to buy in Italy if the market in the US hadn’t been so crazy,” the entrepreneur said. She plans to work remotely and imagines a “bella vita” of good food and wine, along with a local literary club and art space she plans to launch in her storefront, “reminiscent of Paris’s art scene in the 1920s.”