Research process · updated 2026-06-23

Methodology

How Global Home Atlas scores global property destinations across lifestyle, ownership clarity, yield realism, retirement fit, liquidity, and value.

Model10 dimensions
Destinations25
Listings75 samples
Updated2026-06-23

What the Score Measures

Global Home Atlas uses a 10-dimension decision model to compare property destinations for buyers who care about lifestyle, legal clarity, rental realism, retirement optionality, and long-term exit quality. The model is deliberately practical: it rewards places that can be lived in, rented responsibly, owned with confidence, and sold into a real buyer pool.

  • Lifestyle magnetism: Natural setting, food culture, and repeatable year-round reasons to be there. Base weight 10%.
  • Global access: Airport quality, regional connectivity, and access to global business centres. Base weight 10%.
  • Ownership clarity: Foreign-buyer pathway, title transparency, transaction practicality, and legal friction. Base weight 12%.
  • Regulatory safety: Short-term-rental and local operating rules that can affect income durability. Base weight 8%.
  • Rental profit: Net-yield potential after operating friction, seasonality, and realistic asset selection. Base weight 13%.
  • Capital upside: Long-term appreciation drivers, scarcity, infrastructure, and demand migration. Base weight 9%.
  • Retirement fit: Healthcare, convenience, safety, comfort, and the ability to live there for months. Base weight 11%.
  • Exit liquidity: Depth and quality of the resale buyer pool when the thesis changes. Base weight 9%.
  • Foreigner fit: Ease for global and Chinese-speaking buyers across language, services, and local acceptance. Base weight 7%.
  • Value entry: Price discipline, USD/m2 reasonableness, and margin of safety at acquisition. Base weight 11%.

How to Use the Score

The score is a shortlist tool, not a purchase instruction. It helps compare destinations on a consistent basis, then forces the buyer to investigate the local legal, tax, financing, building, and neighborhood questions that decide the actual transaction.

Weights are visible because different buyers should be able to challenge the model. A retirement buyer may raise healthcare and convenience. A pure investor may raise yield and exit liquidity. A lifestyle buyer may raise access and year-round activity.