Winter begins. A typical harsh season with its unpredictable weather. Who would not like to migrate somewhere to warm countries just like birds? It's better to choose a place not very far from yours, so you'll have a chance to visit relatives and friends, or perhaps vice versa, they would come to you. Solution: buy a house or flat in Europe. But soon a new question arises: What European country is the best for buying a home for the winter?
Old town in Valetta, capital of Malta
It seems that the answer is obvious: sunny Spain, Cyprus or Sicily. But things are not so easy, because someone prefers snowy ski resorts, someone choses a rainy Paris, and someone likes a peculiar charm of Scandinavian winter. Furthermore, choosing a residential property to spend the winter, you may also think on the possibility of using it at summertime.
In this article we won't write about housing in villages that are located within "just three hours drive from city". Instead, let us focus on the big cities, where there is something to do at any time of year. When buying a property in Europe, and especially for wintertime, it is necessary to be able to attend cultural and sports activities, relax in nightclubs, dine in the many cafes and restaurants, make shopping in large malls.
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More of snow, less of ice
Let's start with cold spots. These include the Baltic countries and Finland, partly Sweden, Norway, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. Winter in Tallinn, Helsinki and Oslo is similar to winter in Moscow or Kiev. Winter in Riga, Stockholm and Warsaw is a little softer. But this applies only to air temperature: everything else is completely different .
Residents of listed countries are fond of holidays, and most importantly, they know how to celebrate. Already in the middle of autumn they begin to prepare for Christmas and New Year, arranging sales and fairs, decorating homes and streets with festive lights.
Christmas in Tallinn
Where, if not in Nordic countries, can you be involved in a real Christmas story? Get out of your house or apartment, walk to downtown and go to bask in the cozy little cafe. City lights are flashing outside of the window, people are rushing somewhere, and you sit with a glass of mulled wine and realize you don't wanna leave. By the way, are you sitting alone or with someone?
One of "cold" countries, that attracts foreign buyers, is Estonia. Average cost of apartments in Tallinn is €1.3-1.4 thousand per square meter. You'll live in a relatively small city, having the opportunity to reach St. Petersburg, Helsinki or Riga in few hours.
Incidentally, in Riga a square meter costs only €1,000, while in the old soviet blocks it's even around €600. Unlikely that buying an apartment in Riga will be more profitable than it is now, because since 2010 prices are insignificantly increasing (but they are still 2 times less than in the pre-crisis year 2007).
Snow-covered street in Old Riga
If you are not scared of cold Baltic winds and choose an apartment in Jurmala (only 20 km from Riga), you will be rewarded in the summer when the beach season starts. Spacious two bedroom apartment 10 minutes from the beach is for sell for €52 thousand. To buy a detatched house in Jurmala, you have to spend at least €150 thousand. By the way, buying of real estate for this amount of money is the basis for obtaining residence permit in Latvia.
Very small apartment in Stockholm, on the other shore of the Baltic Sea, costs €200-350 thousand. The average cost of a square meter in this capital reached a record high since year 2008 - €6,3 thousand. Apartments in Bulgarian capital of Sofia go for €750 per square meter (daily mean temperature in January is -1°C). Apartments in Burgas cost less then €600 (+3°C). In this city you can find whether a two bedroom apartment for €40 thousand or 130-meter apartment in a prestigious area for €80 thousand.
To ski to Europe
Alpine ski resorts are don't have warm winters. In most of them the average January temperature is slightly below zero. Daily mean temperature in the coldest month in the Italian town of Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the Dolomites, is -2,5°C. Approximately the same weather is in a popular ski village of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Zugspitze, Germany highest mountain
But there are advantages. In addition to the possibility of skiing, you can "come down from the mountains" to big cities with slightly milder climate. In the case of the German Alps, it's Munich. When buying a house or apartment in the Italian Alps, you'll live close to Turin and not far from Nice and other cities in warm French Riviera.
Apartment on the ski resorts in Italy can be bought for €2,000 per square meter, but on the best resorts in the Dolomites and Valle d'Aosta price starts from €4-5 thousand. Apartments in Garmisch-Partenkirchen go for € 2,500 to € 4,500 per sq. m. This famous resort is located close to Munich and Innsbruck, Austria. In other ski areas in Germany property costs a way less. Apartments with one or two bedrooms on the resorts of Black Forest are offered for €25-40 thousand.
Windy, occasional rain
Breezy, but quite comfortable, with average January temperatures ranging from 5°C to 10°C, is in the UK, France, Italy, Benelux, central and northern Spain, northwestern Germany. You don't need a scarf anymore but you can't do without a coat or jacket.
The average January temperature in major capitals of Europe, London and Paris, is about 5°C, in Madrid - 6C°. Of course, it's chilly, but at least the temperature rarely drops below zero. It is warmer in Barcelona and Cote d'Azur where the average daily temperature in January exceeds than 9C°. Daytime temperature in Nice at winter is about 10-16°C.
Nice
However, it's almost unreal to buy an inexpensive apartment in Cannes or Nice, of less then €150,000. Average house with five bedrooms is offered for sale for €20.7 million. Although villa on the Cote d'Azur with sea views can be bought whether for €400 thousand or for €50 million. In the latter case it would be a luxurious residence with a house of 800 sq. m, swimming pool and a plot of land.
Moving to a rainy London costs a pretty penny. The cost of a house or apartment in the middle price segment (i.e., except of 10% of the most and least expensive properties) has already reached €551 thousand. Having this amount of money, you may purchase an apartment of 50-80 sq. m. Prices in Paris are almost the same, and one square meter costs more than €8 thousand.
Paris
You can settle in Madrid, having a much more modest budget. Average price of square meter is €2.4 thousand. 70-meter apartment in the outskirts of Madrid costs less than €100 thousand. An apartment of the same footage but located in city centre can be several times more expensive, because the price in the prestigious areas reaches €5,000 per sq. m.
Madrid
Summer at midwinter
It's warm at winter on southern coasts of Portugal and Spain, as well as on the Mediterranean islands of Malta, Sicily (Italy), Crete (Greece) and Cyprus. It is noteworthy that all these countries grant a residence permit to foreigners who buy property.
The average temperature in January, the coldest month of the year, in these regions exceeds 10°C and can reach 15°C. It's warmer in December and February. Daytime temperatures in winter months can reach even up to record 25°C, but it is happens extremely rare and not everywhere. At summer time it's really warm there, with average temperature in July around 25-30°C (for example, in Moscow it's 19°C), and during the daytime it's even warmer.
Apartments in Lisbon cost on average €1,315 per sq. m. Flats and villas in Algarve region on the south of Portugal is slightly cheaper (€1,240). For example, a 125-meter apartment in the capital of the Algarve Faro is for sale for €120,000. The apartment has 4 bedrooms and 4 balconies with beautiful views of the city. In small towns of Algarve you can find cheaper options. But luxury villas near the ocean cost more, from €1.5 thousand to €9 thousand per square meter. If you have a heated pool, you can swim even at winter.
Faro
How to get a residence permit in Portugal when purchasing property in Algarve? Buy one or more objects in the total amount of € 500 thousand. For example, the 300-meter villa near the ocean.
Residence permit in Spain "costs" €500,000 too. An apartment in coastal city Alicante, Valencia, (€1.4 thousand per sq. m) would be a good choice. Housing in Seville, where the daily mean temperature in January is 11°C, and has never fallen below -5°C, worth on average €1.65 thousand per square meter.
Seville
At winter, you can also warm yourself up in Cyprus. Average prices for houses and apartments in major cities of Limassol, Larnaca , Nicosia and Paphos range from €1.1 thousand to €1,7 thousand per sq. mj. Limassol has the warmest winters in the European Union, with the temperature in January about 18°C during the day and 9°C at night. Obtaining a residence permit in Cyprus, the warmest spot in Europe, is possible when buying property in the amount of €300 thousand.
Paphos
Text: Alexander Fetyukov, ee24.com
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