Wealthy property investors are increasingly indulging in the new pursuit of “passport shopping”, basing their buying decisions on which country offers the most attractive residency or citizenship package in return for investing in a property.
In its recent Wealth Report, Knight Frank focuses on the growing number of countries vying to attract international property investors, from Caribbean islands such as St Kitts – the initiator of the original citizenship investment programme (CIP) 30 years ago – and, most recently, Antigua and Barbuda, to European nations such as Spain, Portugal, Malta and Greece.
For countries such as the UK and US, the supply of investor visas is “driven by demand from global investors looking to protect their assets”, says Tom Bill, a Knight Frank associate. “For countries short of capital, this is a quick way of getting hold of it,” adds Nick Warr, a partner at the law firm Taylor Wessing.