What $209 000 Buys Abroad, Compared to a One-Bedroom in Moscow

A useful exercise for anyone weighing a purchase abroad: take a fixed budget and see what it actually buys in different countries. The starting point here is the price of a new one-bedroom apartment in Moscow — around RUB 19m, roughly $209 000.

Thailand

A studio in a high-end beachfront complex in Pattaya, small apartments near the beach in Phuket, or, with some searching, a compact villa on Samui. The entry price is low, but a foreigner cannot own land outright, and the foreign-ownership quota inside a condominium is capped.

Spain

This budget lands in less popular locations away from the coast — Almería, Murcia. In sought-after coastal spots, prices start around €250 000. The upside is a European legal framework; the downside is ownership and holding taxes.

UAE

A one-bedroom near Downtown, or more space — 40 to 80 sqm — in a residential suburb. Abu Dhabi is another option. What sets it apart from the rest of the list: full freehold ownership in designated zones, no ownership or income tax, a currency pegged to the dollar, and a working secondary market.

Cyprus

New business-class apartments in Larnaca; in the suburbs, from €147 000. The average deal size on this market runs around €300 000, which puts this budget below the typical transaction level.

How to compare properly

Entry price is the least informative number here. Four other things matter:

• Ownership right: full title, or a long-term lease of the land.
• Taxes: on ownership, on rental income, on capital gains at sale.
• Liquidity: whether a secondary market exists, and how long a sale actually takes.
• Currency: what the asset is denominated in, and how that currency behaves against the dollar.

Based on comparative overviews of overseas property markets for buyers relocating capital abroad.