Thinking of buying a second home in an ideal vacation spot? A new index highlights the ten global hotspots based upon lifestyle factors, accessibility and the property market itself.
Global Citizen Solutions, a residency and citizenship planning advisory firm, recently constructed an index to take a look at the most desirable second-home locations for high-net-worth individuals to buy property.
Out of the top ten, seven were in Europe, with Spain, Portugal, and France leading the pack:
- in Spain, Mallorca and Ibiza are ranked highly because of strong price growth, a lot of sunshine, a high quality of life score, and some seriously good infrastructure.
- in Portugal, the Algarve has the highest appreciation rate in the dataset, is known to be incredibly safe, has over 3,100 hours of sunshine, and is reasonably accessible relative to its performance. In 2023, the Algarve accounted for almost 30% of all housing purchases by non-resident buyers in Portugal.
- in France, the Côte d’Azur and Saint-Tropez came third because of their obvious cultural primacy, coupled with some stunning infrastructure that allows 70 million air passengers to visit every year— something that takes decades to build.
The index took into account lifestyle factors as primary drivers of second-home acquisition, rather than purely financial decision-making. And that makes sense, because we all want to vacation in a second home with a lifestyle we want.
So the index uses a three-pillar framework about which one of the index researchers, Liana Simonyan, says: “this index ranks twenty prime markets, deliberately weighting lifestyle and desirability above property fundamentals—a methodological choice grounded in how high-net-worth individuals actually experience their second homes.”
Italy, Japan, and the U.S. rounded out the top six, with New Zealand, Austria, Greece, and Switzerland making the Top Ten.
The index authors, the Global Intelligence Unit, attribute European dominance here to a rare convergence of climate, luxury infrastructure, institutional stability, and ownership conditions that no other region replicates at scale.
As Global Citizen Solutions CEO, Patricia Casaburi notes, “Europe’s dominance here is structural rather than incidental. The leading markets share a rare alignment of climate, luxury infrastructure, safety, and ownership conditions that continue to make the continent appealing to lifestyle-driven buyers.”
The top 10 points to a clear divide between Southern European and Alpine markets. Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy have higher market appreciation, more sunshine, and more intensive seasonal usability. Austria and Switzerland, on the other hand, tend towards multigenerational holdings, tightly controlled supply, and long-term value preservation. They also share the joint-highest safety score. Incidentally, Austria has slightly fewer restrictions on foreign ownership, so it’s slightly more accessible to international buyers.
The U.S. leads the ranking in terms of connectivity and the fact it is connected to everywhere by air, and it also has the highest entry price in the top 10. Niseko, Japan, has recently experienced a significant boom in foreign direct investment and is known as a high-quality alpine destination. Queenstown, New Zealand, appeals to buyers whose primary rationale is stability and long-term security rather than returns.
The top 10 second-home markets
- Mallorca/Ibiza, Spain
- Algarve, Portugal
- Côte d’Azur/St-Tropez, France
- Lake Como/Costa Smeralda, Italy
- Niseko, Japan
- Aspen/Palm Beach/Hamptons, U.S.
- Queenstown, New Zealand
- Kitzbühl/Lech, Austria
- Mykenos, Greece
- Verbier/St Moritz, Switzerland
Motivations for second-home ownership are complex, but, as the study attempts to analyze, they often involve far more than just financial imperatives.
As of 2026, 28% of global luxury property transactions were to buyers for second homes.
Co-ownership is another option for second homes overseas
If you’re looking to own a home overseas, you might want to consider co-ownership, which helps you manage the property and access local five-star amenities without doing all the work yourself—as well as sharing the responsibility and time spent on the property.
One example is the medieval home in a 900-year-old Tuscan village in Italy, where shares start at $549,000 for ⅛ ownership of Casa Bianca, in the remote hilltop enclave of Castiglioncello del Trinoro, with its cobbled streets and medieval architecture, available through Pacaso.
Ultimately, for the modern high-net-worth buyer, the search for a second-home location is more than a portfolio addition; people want curated lifestyle experiences, whether that be in the sun-drenched Mediterranean or the Swiss Alps.
This story was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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