International property investors would do well to consider Orlando, FL, as a destination for their assets, where £125,000 ($203,453) would buy a four-bedroom house, a large garden and a private pool - compared to a studio apartment in the Swiss Alps - according to HSBC’s latest global property report.

Florida’s property market has bottomed out since the crash, and this – coupled with a favorable exchange rate for inward investment from the UK, for example – means international money goes far in the state’s property market. The
HSBC report ranks Orange County, Orlando, as the best value for money on property purchase price when considered in UK pounds.

Looking at an investment of £400,000 ($651,049), the bank says this would buy a six-bed house in Orange County, Orlando; a five-bed house in the Costa Blanca in Spain; a four-bed house in Bodrum, Turkey; a three-bed house in parts of Tuscany, Italy, or in Gryon in the Swiss Alps.

Overall, the competitiveness of Switzerland as a destination for buyers is weakened by the fact that annual property taxes and rental income taxes for foreign owners are higher than in other popular destinations. The annual property tax is 2.3 per cent of a property’s value, while rental income tax for foreign owners is 49 per cent – compared to the 30 per cent levied in the US, for example.