For many of us, the world is our oyster and so long as it’s sunny and continental, we don’t much care where we buy … but where will your money go furthest?
Here we check out prices at a glance for your favourite locations to see what € 200,000 will buy us!
France
Let’s start with the priciest. With a city-centre property at around € 10,000 per square metre (psm) you’ll barely be able to swing a cat in the kind of property € 200,000 will buy you in Paris. Before you dismiss the idea out of hand, however, remember that British chef Rachel Khoo impressed Parisians with the restaurant she opened in her 21 square metre flat, The Little Paris Kitchen. However, if you want more bedrooms, or indeed any bedrooms, and you can’t find a couple of friends to buy a property with you (why don’t more people buy in groups, we wonder, especially for holiday homes?) you could head out to the suburbs where the average price comes down by about a third. Here you can get a 31 square metre studio or bijou one-bedroom flat.
You may have heard that a new TGV line is now connecting Bordeaux with Paris in just a couple of hours. So if you fancy getting the fast train to Gironde in Bordeaux, your € 200,000 will get you 56 square metres. That’s still not a massive amount of space for your money, so where will € 200,000 buy somewhere you can entertain the whole family? How about Limoges, pretty as a picture and around € 1,100 psm, meaning you get 183 square metres, virtually a chateau compared to Paris.
Spain
Down in Spain, prices in Barcelona have been creeping up by 2 percent per year in general, but more in fashionable areas like Eixample, where we’re back in 20 square metre territory for your € 200,000. Move to a slightly less central area and you could get around 66 square metres, enough for a spacious two-bedroom flat or a cosy townhouse.
In Malaga, another resurgent Spanish city but this one at the far end of the country, you could get a very spacious apartment indeed – 133 square metres – perhaps a whole penthouse suite, for your budget.
Italy
Italy also has significant variation between north and south. In Milan, with access to the Italian lakes and the skiing areas, you might only get 26 square metres in the centre of the city – but what a city it is! – yet more than double that in the suburbs, where you are up to 59 square metres.
Down in Naples, € 200,000 buys you around 45 square metres in the city, but 100 square metres (and a good bit of garden too) in the wider Campania region. Over on the other side of the country, but still south, prices in Puglia are around € 2,000 psm in general and double that in the most fashionable towns, such as Ostuni or Monopoli. That gives you between 50 and 100 square metres depending on whether you want to be hip or square. Of course, the nicer the area the less time you’ll probably be in the apartment anyway, so does size really matter? That’s another argument…
Portugal
In Portugal at least, you can buy a decent-sized property in the very heart of a capital city in Western Europe for € 200,000. For this budget you will get 100 square metres – although the prices are rising fast so you will need to get in quick. It’s quite the investment destination right now, with the financial crisis of five years ago being rapidly forgotten and a major revamp of the city centre going on. There is a buzz about Lisbon right now, definitely one to watch if you want to make that € 200,000 work for you as an investment.
Down in the Algarve, even though it is the most expat-friendly and touristy area, you will get a generous 137 square metres for € 200,000. Of course, that isn’t everywhere – only go into the smarter gated communities of the “Golden Triangle” with that budget if you enjoy estate agents laughing at you – but in Albufeira you should get between 100 and 150 square metres for the price.
Don’t forget you will have to add buying costs, which vary between countries but are generally 8 to 15%. You can read more about buying costs for your favourite countries at propertyguides.com. You will also have to change your pounds, or other currency if your income is from another country outside the Eurozone, and that will add a percentage point or two to the cost if you are calculating from the interbank rate. Contact Smart Currency Exchange for a much better rate than your banks for property purchases.
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