Americans who can’t afford homes are moving to Europe instead

Abstract

More Americans are relocating to Europe, driven across the Atlantic by the rising cost of living, inflated house prices, a surging dollar and political rancor at home. Relatively cheap housing - particularly in smaller cities and towns - and the rise of remote work have made the continent alluring to a wider range of people, including those who are younger and find themselves priced out of the housing market at home. Growing crime rates in some U.S. cities and political divisions have also led Americans to look across the pond for a quieter lifestyle, buoyed by a euro that just dropped to parity with the U.S. dollar for the first time in more than 20 years. "The rising cost of living has made it more expensive to live in any major U.S. city than in European cities," said Michael Witkowski, vice president of U.S.-based expat consultancy ECA international. "Expensive home prices as well as a strong U.S. dollar and political tensions are all contributing factors to the growing allure of Europe."Retire at 50To be sure, it's not always easy to pick up and move to another country. Initially lured in by the one-euro homes, Miami-based Cathlyn Kirk, 47, ended up buying a three-bedroom, three-story home in Mussomeli, the same village as Synclair's, for 37,000 euros last November. Initially living in a two-bedroom mobile home in Malibu, California, the director of operations for a tech startup couldn't afford to fulfill her dream of buying land with her friends to build a communal living area in LA.A new remote job allowed her to leave the city and move to a 2,000-euro-a-month, three-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment with a private rooftop in Cascais, a coastal city with a large expat population.