Financial planners are seeing a “rapidly growing” number of Britons hoping to retire to Europe – five years after Brexit brought an end to freedom of movement.
James Roberts, chief executive of Blevins Franks, told the Money blog that enquiries to his firm, which specialises in expatriate affairs, shot up to 13,000 last year.
It’s a different story from the one expected in a post-Brexit world in which Britons face additional hurdles to fulfil their dream of retiring in the sun.
Chris Nye, a senior editor at Your Overseas Home with more than two decades of experience in European property markets, said: “A lot of us thought, including me at the time, oh god, this is going to be the end of British people moving overseas.
“It’s not. It’s just you can’t do it in the ad hoc way that you used to.”
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How then?
Now the UK is outside the EU, it’s even more important to be aware of the idiosyncrasies of each nation’s tax and inheritance laws, property markets and cost of living environment.
So, with the help of the experts, we’ve put together a beginner’s guide on retiring to the four most popular European countries: Spain, France, Portugal and Italy.
A third of retirees were interested in Spain last year, a quarter in France and 17% in Portugal, Blevins Franks told us.
The figures roughly mirror the findings of a worldwide Canada Life survey, which found the most popular destinations for British retirees in 2022 were Spain (46%), Portugal (21%), France (19%) and Italy (16%).
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Spain: The popular choice
Are you eligible?
“The issue with Spain is the visa,” says Nye. It has stricter conditions than Italy, Portugal or France.
In order to secure what’s called a Non-Lucrative Visa, retirees are required to receive a pension or lifetime annuity worth at least €28,800 (£24,920) per year, rising to €36,000 (£31,150) for married couples.
The visa stipulates you must have private health insurance valid for one year; travel insurance with medical coverage will not be accepted.
It will set you back at least £560: £516 for the document, a £14.85 handling fee and £29.99 for postage. Translation: insurance and document checks will cost more.
You’ll be covered for one year, then you can renew it for two years, twice. At the end of your fifth year, you’ll qualify to apply for long-term residency, which lasts five years. After 10 years in Spain, you can apply for citizenship.
Cost of living
This is one of the main draws to Spain.
It’s 32% lower than in the UK, at almost £400 a month less, making Spain the cheapest nation among 11 top foreign destinations analysed by Overseas Home.
It was the fourth cheapest for groceries (22% less than the UK), second cheapest to run a home (-32%), sixth for travel (-21%) and top of the leaderboard for eating out and other leisure activities (-44%).
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“You can enjoy a fantastic menu of the day, three-course lunch with wine for €12 – €15 (£10 – £15) in a local restaurant,” says James Stirling, a financial adviser at Blevins Franks, who lives and works in Estepona and Marbella.
“A nice dinner for two with wine costs around €60 – €80 (£52 – £69). In the shops, fresh produce is significantly cheaper than in the UK.”
Property
Property in Spain is considerably more affordable too, with a square metre up to 50% cheaper, according to Blevins Franks.
“€120,000 (£104,000) gets you a good choice of nice apartments, not obviously on the beach, but in those popular areas of the Costa Blanca or Costa del Sol,” says Nye.
“If it’s something really nice, then you’ve got to be looking at €200,000 (£173,000).
“Drive an hour inland from the Costa del Sol and property prices halve. Obviously, people don’t necessarily speak English.”
Image:
A refurbished Spanish farmhouse. Pic: iStock
Taxes
In all of the countries we’re assessing this week, you will become a tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in a year there.
Before we delve in, a sage word of advice from Harri Matikainen, senior tax adviser at Blevins Franks.
“Where should I move to pay the least amount of tax? Well, you go to Dubai, but do you really want to live there?
“There’s no point in letting just tax direct where you want to live. You have to really like the place as a first step, see which country you would enjoy living in.”
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Spain still caught your eye? Let’s take a look at its property, income, wealth, inheritance and capital gains tax regimes.
Spanish property tax is usually set between 0.4% and 1.1% of a property’s value. There’s also 1.5% stamp duty and an additional 10% VAT for new properties.
Pensions are taxed as earned income, but rates vary from region to region – and there are 17 in Spain. Here’s a starting point at the federal level.
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Don’t be surprised by the first row on that table – there is indeed a personal allowance, but it’s applied as a tax credit after the fact, unlike in the UK.
It starts at €5,550 (£4,750), rising to €6,700 (£5,730) for people over 65 and €8,100 (£6,930) over 75.
There are extra deductions for disabilities, worth €3,000 – €12,000 (£2,600 – £10,380).
There is no tax-free lump sum pension withdrawal available in Spain, meaning it’s important to draw down your 25% before reaching this threshold, says Matikainen.
Wealth taxes also vary by region, but where a local government does not decide on one, a state wealth tax regime applies to assets of the following values.
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A solidarity tax has been imposed on large fortunes since 2023. It’s complementary, so the amount you pay in wealth tax should be deducted from the amount you owe in solidarity tax.
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Capital gains tax is actually lumped together with savings income tax bands in Spain.
That means gains made on the sale or transfer of shares are added to dividends, interest, income from life assurance contracts and purchased annuities and taxed progressively, as follows:
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If you’re under 65, proceeds from the sale of your main home are exempt from capital gains tax if they are entirely reinvested into a new primary residence and both homes are within the EU or European Economic Area.
If you’re over 65, you are not subject to capital gains tax on your main home, regardless of whether you reinvest the proceeds, so long as you live in the property for three years.
You’ll also be exempt from capital gains tax on profits gained from the sale of any other assets that you use to purchase a lifetime annuity, up to a maximum of €240,000 (£208,000), so long as the purchase is made within six months of the sale.
Since April 2025, expats living outside the UK for more than 10 years no longer pay UK inheritance tax on worldwide assets, just those held in the UK, meaning they are subject to the inheritance tax rules in their country of tax residency.
Spanish inheritance tax rates and rules vary between regions, from 7.65% to 34%, plus multipliers based on the beneficiaries’ net worth. It may be sensible to speak to an adviser if this is important to you.
In Andalucia, for example, spouses, children, grandchildren and parents benefit from a 99% tax relief and a €1m (£862,000) tax-free allowance on inheritance.
Compare that to Valenciana, which still offers the generous 99% succession reduction, but with a €100,000 (£86,000) tax-free allowance.
Across the board, your main residence can benefit from a 95% tax reduction for spouses or descendants who keep it for 10 years, capped at €122,606 (£106,000) per person.
Portugal: The something-for-everyone choice
Are you eligible?
Portugal offers a two-year, renewable visa designed for people with passive income, like retirees, known as a “D7”.
To qualify, you must receive €11,040 (£9,600) per annum, equivalent to the minimum wage.
That’s just under a third of the income required to relocate to Spain.
The threshold for a spouse is halved, and drops to just 30% for children.
“Portugal is definitely the easiest to qualify,” says Harri Matikainen.
The D7 can be renewed at the end of year two for another three years. After five years in Portugal, you can renew again or apply for permanent residency or citizenship – though the latter includes a language test.
Unlike Spain, where you must spend 183 days (six months) of each calendar year in the country to qualify for its visa, Portugal requires you to spend 16 months in Portugal in any two-year period.
Image:
Madeira Island. Pic: iStock
Cost of living
Portugal is just behind Spain, with the second-cheapest cost of living in Overseas Home’s analysis, costing residents 29% less than in the UK.
It stands out for cheaper travel (40% cheaper than the UK), leisure and eating out (-41%) and personal shopping (-44%).
“Because of the temperate climate here in Portugal, the tendency is for people to socialise and to eat out more regularly and this can be attuned to whatever your budget allows,” says Sharon Farrell of Blevins Franks, who lives in the Algarve.
Her colleague Andre Santos agrees: “A local lunch menu is typically around €8-€12, and a mid‑range dinner for two roughly €30-€50. You will pay more in the most touristy seafront venues.”
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Portugal is a little less competitive when it comes to the cost of running a home (11% cheaper, behind five other nations) and groceries (18% cheaper, behind four).
Property
“It wasn’t so long ago that the Algarve was one of the most affordable popular coasts in Europe for home buyers, but years of double-digit percentage price rises have made it much harder to find a property on the Atlantic to match the affordability of places like Greece or Turkey,” says Chris Nye.
“Prices in Portugal have risen enormously in the past year. At around 19% during 2025, only Hungary has seen higher price rises.
“The long-term average rise is also high, at close to 100% over the past five years.”
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Does this feel like a price bubble? Nye says not really.
“Portugal feels like a country that is on the up and its properties simply are catching up with that reality.”
It’s still affordable when you compare it with the highest-end coasts like the French Riviera or Spain’s Costa del Sol, but in a popular Algarve location like Vilamoura, you’ll be paying from €400,000 (£346,000) for an apartment and €700,000 (£606,000) for a villa with pool.
Travel to the quieter far east and west of the Algarve and you might pay half that, says Nye, or consider the Silver Coast between Lisbon and Porto.
Prices drop inland, and you can buy a property to renovate from well under €100,000 (£86,000) in the countryside and inland towns.
Taxes
Your British state and work pensions would be taxed in Portugal in line with income tax rates.
There’s an additional 2.5% solidarity tax over €80,000 (£69,000), rising to 5% over €250,000 (£217,000).
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Rather than a personal allowance, Portugal operates a tax credit system, with deductions for everything from general household expenses to healthcare to recreational activities.
The list is long and complex, but the single biggest credits are for disabilities, €2,150 (£1,840), health, €1,000 (£850), and education, €800 (£680). PwC has compiled a complete overview here.
Portugal does not impose a wealth tax, but does impose a 0.7% high-value property tax on any property share exceeding €600,000 (£520,000) in value. This rises to 1% over €1m (£866,000) and 1.5% over €1.5m (£1.3m).
“Portugal is probably the best jurisdiction if you are a high net worth individual, purely from a wealth tax perspective,” says Matikainen.
Speaking of property tax, stamp duty is charged at 0.8%, plus a progressive transfer tax (IMT) capped at 8%. New builds or purchases from developers incur VAT, at 23%.
When it comes to capital gains, 50% of your real estate profits are added to your other income and taxed at the income tax scale rates.
Proceeds from the sale of your main home are exempt if they are entirely reinvested in a new primary residence within three years.
And like Spain, gains from this sale are also exempt if you are aged over 65 and reinvest the proceeds in an insurance contract or pension fund within six months.
Residents selling worldwide shares, securities and bonds are taxed at a flat 28% rate, with any investments obtained before 1989 exempt. Crypto assets are also exempt, provided you have owned them for more than one year. As ever, conditions apply.
Before we address inheritance tax, it’s important to note there are strict rules in Portuguese succession law that could force you to pass on at least half your assets (bar non-Portuguese real estate) to your direct family (grandparents, parents, spouse and children).
You can override these rules by expressly stating that you choose to be subject to British succession law in your will or similar legal document.
Portugal does not impose an inheritance tax, but instead a 10% stamp duty when Portuguese assets are passed on death. Spouses, children, grandchildren and parents are exempt, as are assets in the UK.
Those British assets will, however, be subject to UK inheritance tax.
If HMRC still considers you domiciled in the UK, your Portuguese assets could face both the stamp duty and British inheritance taxes, so make sure you’re staying the correct length of time in Portugal as per your visa.
France: The familiar choice
“If you’re retiring, the easiest place to move is, I think, probably France,” says Nye.
Are you eligible?
You’ll need to first apply for a Long Stay Visa. This type of visa lasts for up to a year and is issued by countries across the Schengen area for stays exceeding 90 days in any 180-day period.
You’ll need to prove you:
Have an income (which includes pensions) of at least £14,900 a year per person. Savings may be used to supplement.Private medical insurance or a British government-issued healthcare entitlement certificate (S1)
After eight months in France, you’ll need to apply for a residency permit to kick in at the 12-month mark, lasting a year, to be renewed annually.
Cost of living
Overall, France is the most expensive of the four countries we’re assessing this week, but it still works out 20% cheaper than the UK, according to Overseas Home.
There are some big variations between household outgoings, with France coming in at 24% cheaper than the UK for supermarket shopping but only 9% cheaper for home-running costs.
French transport is actually 3% more expensive than the UK. But as Nye points out, you’re less likely to have to fly when you move there.
France is also fourth from top for eating out on the Your Overseas Home list, at 35% cheaper than the UK.
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Property
“You’re much less likely to be living in an apartment block with a pool; it’s village homes, it’s country homes,” says Nye.
“Cost-wise, most British people choose Nouvelle-Aquitaine, in the South West.
“You can definitely buy a nice cottage for up to €100,000 (£87,000). You can get some land quite easily.”
Image:
A luxury house in the Ville d’Hiver district of Arcachon, Aquitaine. Pic: iStock
But if you’ve had your eye on Normandy or Brittany, Nye has a word of warning.
“Don’t think that you’re going to just go to Normandy and find a beautiful house there – because you are fighting with Parisians for those properties.”
Property also shouldn’t be seen as a particularly good investment opportunity in France, he says.
“If you look at property price rises, they haven’t been particularly spectacular in France or Italy, whereas in Portugal, the property price increase has been enormous.”
Taxes
France uses an unusual system, taxing income (and pensions) by household.
Authorities divide a household’s total income by its number of inhabitants and apply a tax scale to the figure.
Households are entitled to €11,600 (£10,000) tax-free, followed by an 11% levy for income up to €29,579 (£25,400). The scale continues to rise as follows…
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The maths doesn’t stop there. Each household sees another 10% of their income protected from tax before the above calculation is made, up to the value of €4,439 (£3,800) for pensioners.
An extra 9.1% social security levy will also be imposed on pension income, unless you acquire an S1 form.
A wealth tax applies to any household with worldwide property assets in excess of €1.3m after debt deductions.
The tax only kicks in when your real estate value hits €1.3m, but once triggered, the levy is applied to all wealth exceeding €800,000 (£693,000).
A rate of 0.5% is applied to the half a million euros accrued between €800,000 (£693,000) and €1.3m (£1.13m), meaning an immediate €2,500 (£2,170) tax bill.
Wealth tax brackets then scale as follows…
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Capital gains tax on shares, equities, dividends and interest stands at 31.4% (12.8% income tax plus 18.6% social charges).
The tax does not apply to the sale of your primary home, or to any other property worth less than €15,000 (£13,000).
Other properties are taxed at a starting rate of 26.5% (a 19% flat rate plus reduced social contributions of 7.5% – most non-EU nationals would face a 17.2% social levy).
This rate can be reduced via a rebate that kicks in after five years of ownership and gets progressively larger the longer you’ve owned the property.
After 17 years, the capital gain is fully exempt from the 19% tax, and after 30 years, it will also be fully exempt from the social duty.
Inheritance tax applies to your worldwide assets, not just those in France, bar real estate.
Like Portugal, France has succession laws that UK expats may wish to opt out of.
In France, children are considered “reserved heirs” who are entitled to up to 75% of the deceased’s estate regardless of what’s written in their will – unless you elect in that will for the British laws of succession to apply.
While in Spain the tax rate you pay depends very much on the region, in France it’s about your relationships.
You may leave €100,000 (£87,000) to each child tax-free, after which you’ll be progressively taxed between 5% and 20% for the next €552,324 (£479,00). By the time inheritance surpasses €1.8m (£1.56m), you’ll be taxed at 45%.
There is no allowance for grandchildren, but they are afforded €31,865 (£27,600) tax-free for gifts. This figure falls to €15,932 (£13,800) for siblings.
After the gift, siblings face a 35% tax rate, rising to 45% for inheritance above €24,430 (£21,200).
The maximum value of gifts falls to €7,967 (£6,800) for nieces and nephews, and €1,594 (£1,400) for non-relatives.
Stepchildren are classed as non-relatives, meaning they are taxed at 60% thereafter.
Italy: The enticing choice
Are you eligible?
Retirees may apply for the Elective Residence Visa, costing €116 (£100).
It stipulates:
A minimum income of €31,160 (£27,000), with the threshold rising by 20% for couples;Medical insurance that covers all medical expenses up to at least €30,000 (£26,000) a year;Renewal will be at risk of denial if you leave Italy for more than six months (with exceptions).
The visa is issued for one year, renewed annually. After five years, you may apply for permanent residency – though you’ll need to pass a basic Italian language test. Another five years after that, you may apply for citizenship.
Image:
An Italian kitchen Pic: iStock
Cost of living
Italy places third for affordability, behind Portugal and Spain, but two places ahead of France, with its cost of living 25% cheaper than the UK’s overall.
It places reliably in the top four cheapest countries analysed by Overseas Home when it comes to groceries (-23% cheaper), transport (-28%) and running a home (-16%).
But Italy falls down when it comes to a basket of everyday healthcare items like nappies, painkillers, sun cream or a trip to the dentist.
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Property
“Italy has really cheap homes. It’s never really got over the financial crisis,” says Nye.
A “really nice property” will set you back €100,000 (£87,000), if you’re happy to renovate, or €200,000 (£173,000) for a ready-to-go home, says Nye.
Forget the gimmicks, though, says Nye, like Italy’s offer of a €1 homes for complete renovation.
“The one-euro home thing has kind of been done to death because you can’t find the builders to fix it all,” he says.
I previously spoke to Britons who had taken on the challenge last year, some of whom were more optimistic.
If you can face a home makeover, lots of southern areas like Sicily, Puglia and Calabria are offering other tax incentives to fill homes emptied out by young families moving to the cities.
Taxes
Non-Italian pensions and incomes may be voluntarily subject to a special 7% flat tax rate for 10 years if you’re willing to move to a municipality with fewer than 30,000 residents in one of these regions:
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The rate applies to annuities and lump-sum pension payments, excluding unit-linked policies, integrative foreign pension funds, and annuities linked to life insurance policies and aimed at covering the risk of permanent disability.
Importantly, the 7% tax regime also replaces taxes on foreign-sourced rental income, capital gains and wealth.
Should you wish to live elsewhere, you’ll be subject to national income tax on your pension.
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Add to this a regional income tax that ranges from 1.23% to 3.33%, and a municipal income tax ranging from 0% to 0.9%.
The Italian wealth tax system is complex and, as with any foreign retirement location, it is worth seeking financial advice, but we can give you a starting point.
Financial investments inside and outside of Italy are subject to an annual rate of 0.2% (rising to 0.4% for assets held in tax havens).
A flat €34.20 (£29) tax is imposed on domestic and foreign bank accounts holding a balance of €5,000 (£4,313) or more.
Most capital gains are taxed at 26%. Gains on property sales are taxable if sold within five years of acquisition, though primary residences are generally exempt. Crypto assets incur a higher rate of 33%, with the exception of stablecoins in Euros.
Inheritance tax depends on the relationships between those involved.
Spouse, parents, grandparents, children or grandchildren: €1m (£862,000) tax-free, 4% rate thereafter;Siblings: €100,000 tax-free, 6% thereafter;Other family up to fourth generation: No tax-free sum, 6% rate;Other: No tax-free sum, 8% rate.
Property tax has a number of elements. Stamp duty comes in at between 2% and 9%, but it’s based on “cadastral value” – a value assigned by Italian authorities based on land registry data, which is typically less than market value.
There’s no VAT on purchases from a private seller. Purchases from a registered company start at 4% for a main home, rising to 10% for a second one and 22% for luxury residences.