Many Europeans are groaning under rising real estate prices on the continent. But because things are worse on the other side of the Atlantic, more and more U.S. citizens are moving permanently to the EU. The number of emigrants moving away from the United States to Europe has risen significan...tly, according to a report by the Bloomberg news agency

According to the report, southern Europe is particularly popular. The number of U.S. citizens living permanently in Portugal has thus increased by 45 percent in 2021 compared to the previous year. Most recently, just under 7,000 Americans lived in the country, in 2018 it had been less than half. Also high on the list is Spain. According to Bloomberg, the number of U.S.-born residents grew 13 percent between 2019 and 2021. Both countries are specifically luring foreign property buyers with so-called golden visas: Those who invest between 350,000 and 500,000 euros in the country are allowed to stay permanently.
Fear of violence in US cities

Unlike in the past, however, Europe is apparently no longer of interest only to well-heeled U.S. citizens. Bloomberg has spoken with some of the expatriates, many of whom are from the middle class. Like Stephanie Synclair, who bought a house for herself and her son in Italy in April. In the U.S. metropolis of Atlanta, she had previously had to pay $3,000 a month for four rooms - and had had no chance of finding an affordable home of her own, despite reserves of $300,000. Instead, she has now found what she is looking for in Sicily. She even got a small store for 60,000 euros. Synclair is an entrepreneur, she wants to continue her business from Italy, remotely.

She would never have sought to buy in Italy if the market in the U.S. hadn't been so crazy, Synclair said. Now she's looking forward to bella vita with good food and wine. She plans to open a literary club in the small store.

Jamie Dixon, on the other hand, moved from Los Angeles to Portugal a year ago with her daughter and husband. The CEO of a tech start-up initially lived in a two-bedroom mobile home in Malibu. There wasnt enough money for more.

Now the family lives in the coastal town of Cascais, near Lisbon, in a three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment. It also has its own roof terrace. But that's not the only reason the family left the United States. Violence has increased so much in the U.S., Bloomberg quotes Dixon as saying. I wanted to give my child a normal childhood.