Our Editorial Focus for 2024: What Holiday Home Times Is Covering This Year
The international leisure property market is in a period of genuine complexity. Interest rates have reset at levels not seen in over a decade. Golden visa programmes are being reformed or wound down across Europe. Asia Pacific is emerging from its post-pandemic property correction with new dynamics in markets from Bali to Tokyo. Remote work has permanently altered where affluent buyers want to own property — and how often they use it.
For Holiday Home Times, 2024 represents one of the most editorially rich environments we have operated in. There is no shortage of important questions to answer, trends to track, and markets to analyse. Here is what we are focused on this year.
Alternative Citizenship and Residency Programmes
The market for citizenship-by-investment and residency-by-investment programmes has undergone enormous change since 2020. Malta, Portugal, Greece, the UAE, and a growing number of Caribbean and Pacific island nations all operate programmes that link property investment to the right of residency or citizenship. The rules, thresholds, and practical implications of these programmes change frequently, and the gap between what is marketed and what is deliverable can be significant.
Our editorial team will be publishing comprehensive, jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction guides to the major programmes throughout 2024 — covering not just the investment thresholds but the processing timelines, the practical rights conferred, the tax implications, and the due diligence standards applied to applicants. For high-net-worth individuals considering a second passport or a European residency permit, this will be essential reading.
Asia Pacific Real Estate: Beyond the Obvious
Asia Pacific remains one of the most dynamic and least-well-understood second-home markets for international buyers. Beyond the well-covered stories of Bali's villa market and Bangkok's condominium supply overhang, there are compelling opportunities — and significant risks — in markets that receive far less analytical attention.
We will be publishing detailed coverage of leisure property markets in Vietnam, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Japan — four markets that are each at very different stages of maturity and that present entirely different risk/return profiles. We will also be revisiting Australia and New Zealand, where foreign investment rules have tightened considerably and buyers need current, accurate information about what is and is not permitted.
European Golden Visas: The End of an Era?
The original Portuguese Golden Visa, which for over a decade allowed non-EU investors to obtain residency through relatively modest real estate investments, was fundamentally restructured in 2023. Spain is reviewing its own programme. Ireland has suspended its scheme. The European Commission has applied sustained pressure on member states to reduce visa-for-investment programmes that it argues create money-laundering risk and contribute to housing affordability problems in popular cities.
As the European golden visa landscape narrows, we will be tracking what remains available, what alternatives exist, and how buyers who had structured long-term residency plans around these programmes should be reassessing their options. Greece's programme, which has survived and in some respects strengthened, will receive particular attention.
Luxury Rental Yields: The Data Behind the Headlines
The short-term rental market has matured significantly since the early Airbnb era, and the relationship between purchase price and achievable rental yield has become considerably more nuanced. In many premium coastal and ski destinations, yield compression from rising prices has made short-term rental income a less compelling part of the ownership case than it was five years ago. In others, supply constraints and sustained demand are delivering returns that genuinely justify the capital commitment.
We will be publishing yield data and analysis for key second-home markets throughout the year — looking at gross and net figures, seasonality profiles, occupancy trends, and the impact of new short-term rental regulations on achievable income. For buyers who are financing part of their purchase cost with rental income, this data is foundational.
Sustainability and Responsible Development
The environmental impact of second-home ownership and development is a topic our readership increasingly expects us to address seriously. From the carbon footprint of international travel to a remote holiday home to the impact of high-density villa development on coastal ecosystems, the sustainability dimensions of leisure real estate are real and growing in relevance.
We will be covering sustainable building standards, eco-certification schemes for holiday properties, carbon offsetting approaches, and the growing number of developments that are attempting to demonstrate that luxury and environmental responsibility are compatible. This is not a niche concern: it is becoming a mainstream consideration for buyers in their thirties and forties who will be the dominant force in the premium property market for the next two decades.
India's Domestic Luxury Property Renaissance
Few markets are more compelling from an editorial standpoint in 2024 than India's domestic leisure real estate sector. Rising upper-middle-class wealth, improving infrastructure, the post-pandemic lifestyle shift, and significant NRI capital flows are all converging to produce a market that looks structurally different from anything that has preceded it. We will be covering specific micro-markets — Goa, Alibaug, Coorg, the Himalayan belt — in depth throughout the year, as well as the broader policy and regulatory environment that shapes what buyers can do and how.
2024 is, in short, a year when informed, independent editorial coverage of the international holiday home market matters more than ever. We are committed to providing it.