Property Statistics

Publication by the Global Property Guide research team.


The star rating system – what do the stars mean? How does the Global Property Guide rate countries as residential investment destinations?


We judge the “investibility” of a country′s residential property market for capital gains and buy-to-let purposes in terms of rental yields, round-trip transaction costs, rental income tax, capital gains tax, landlord and tenant law, and over-all investment climate (GDP growth and country risk particularly). Country ratings are based on a five point grading system;


  1. - Grab your bags and buy now
  2. - Excellent
  3. - Good
  4. - Indifferent
  5. - Risky or poor returns
  6. - Burn your money instead

A country with a 5 star rating

  1. has high yields
  2. has low capital gains taxes
  3. has low roundtrip transaction costs on property purchase
  4. has a pro-landlord rental system
  5. has no or very low effective rental income taxes
  6. has a history of strong economic growth
  7. is low risk, politically and economically

On the other hand, a country can get a very low rating if

  1. Yields are very low
  2. There are very high transaction costs
  3. Very high rental income taxes lower the net rental yield
  4. Very high capital gains taxes lower the potential gain
  5. Property owners faces serious expropriation risks
  6. Tenants can get effective security of tenure over the rental unit
  7. It has a troubled political or economic history, and is therefore high risk

The ratings should serve as an over-all guide. The situation may widely differ between cities and even between particular districts within a city – and our earnings figures are for desirable upper-end districts in the premier city. The ratings are also based on current conditions and conditions may change remarkably within months. In very small markets, a completion of a single building or development can suddenly swamp the market with new supply. Or the closure of a foreign firm or embassy may suddenly lead to a glut in demand.