Americans, unable to afford the kinds of homes they want in domestic cities, are moving to Southern Europe for the milder climate and lower costs of living — made more affordable by a strong dollar. An influx of Americans are moving to European countries:
Alkis Kafetzis, left, with Danai Maragoudaki, who work for Eteron Institute for Research and Social Change, in Athens, Greece on March 2, 2023.
Americans, unable to afford the kinds of homes they want in the kinds of domestic cities where they want to live, like San Francisco and New York, are moving to Southern Europe in significant numbers. Drawn to the region by its mild climate and low cost of living, made even more affordable by a strong dollar, many Americans gush about trading a car-dependent lifestyle for the chance to live in a vibrant, European city on the cheap.
The Americans who are setting roots here are embracing a life where the weather is pleasant, the lunches are long and they can get by with translation apps and a handful of phrases. Americans say that even if they attempt to stumble through a conversation, locals quickly switch to English since the language is so prevalent in European cities.
The family spent the 2021 school year renting a house in Athens while their children attended an international school there. By 2022, Melissa and Demetrios Mallios put their New Jersey home on the market, and bought the 1.45 million euro condo in Kifissia, a northern Athens suburb with tree-lined streets and multimillion-euro villas hidden behind high stone walls.
In Athens, home prices were up 13% in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same time a year earlier, according to the Bank of Greece. Americans are increasingly interested in Greece’s golden visa program, with applications up a stunning 740% from 2020 to 2021, according to Astons, an investment immigration firm.
At 30, Spiros Stamou owns the taxi he drives, but he still lives with his parents, as do his friends. Driving through central Athens, he lamented his lot. “Some people tried to get their own apartment, but ended up going back home,” he said, frustrated that it felt impossible for someone earning 600 euros a month to afford an apartment that costs 400 euros a month. “The cost of life, everything is getting higher,” he said.“When I was back in the States, I felt so out of place,” she said.
The Wards came to Spain in 2016 on a lark — Ryan Ward’s employer, a marketing firm, offered him a six-month stint in Barcelona that turned into a permanent one. Once they started a family, moving back to the United States didn’t make sense. California was too expensive and Chicago, where Justyna Ward, 36, grew up, was too cold. After living in Europe, they could no longer imagine relinquishing the Mediterranean lifestyle and cultural richness they’d come to cherish in Spain.
“Homeownership society is in crisis in Spain,” said Carme Arcarazo, advocacy coordinator for Sindicat de Llogaters, a Barcelona tenants union. Silva of Habita! said rent protections eliminated in the wake of the global financial crisis left tenants vulnerable to eviction and untenable rent increases. Inside her group’s headquarters, folding chairs were arranged in a circle beneath a yellow tapestry, emblazoned with the phrase, “Casas são para morar” or “houses are for living.
At Da Noi, a tiny restaurant in central Lisbon, diners squeezed into tables and those who had come for drinks spilled out onto the street, talking in English, German and French. Mixing an Aperol spritz behind the bar was Simāo Martins, 22, an economics student at the University of Lisbon. He works full time, but he lives at home with his mother, just like his friends.
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