The PFC Property Investor Index compares European housing markets through two separate questions: what looks investable today, and what offers the strongest relative opportunity over five years.
Today, 1 October 2026, Place for Capital launched the first PFC Property Investor Index. It is called PFC Index 2026Q3.
We built it because property comparisons often mix different questions. A city can offer good buying conditions today but have a weaker medium-term outlook. Another city can be harder to enter now but have stronger room to improve.
When those ideas are pushed into one list, the result can be confusing. It may also hide the choice an investor is really making.
The first edition follows several weeks of research, data checking and methodology work. It compares 11 European cities with one common framework. The model is fixed before publication, so the rankings are not adjusted after the results are known.
Two rankings, not one winner
The Index has two outputs.
The Current Investment Case asks which markets offer the strongest investable starting conditions today.
The 5-Year Investment Potential asks which markets show the strongest relative medium-term residential opportunity.
These are different questions. They have different parts and different weights. PFC does not combine them into a master score.
This matters because an investor may care more about income and entry costs today. Another investor may care more about relative value, repricing and resilience over time. The right ranking depends on the question.
What the Current Investment Case measures
The Current Investment Case uses four parts:
- Investable Starting Point, 30%: how much property a standard €250,000 budget can buy, adjusted for the accessible share of the market.
- Gross Income Carry, 35%: the estimated gross rental yield after a common vacancy treatment.
- Acquisition Cost Burden, 20%: mandatory buyer costs for a standard €250,000 cash resale purchase.
- Foreign Investor Access, 15%: whether a foreign investor can buy, let long term and complete ordinary registration.
The largest weight is on Gross Income Carry. This reflects the role of income in today’s investment conditions. Buying power and mandatory entry costs also matter because they shape how much of a budget reaches the property.
The acquisition-cost figure does not include financing, ongoing ownership costs or optional services. Gross yield is before operating costs and tax.
What the five-year view measures
The 5-Year Investment Potential ranking uses six parts:
- Investable Starting Point, 10%
- Gross Income Carry, 10%
- International Visitor Exposure, 10%
- Relative Value & Convergence, 30%
- Repricing Stage, 30%
- Macro & Physical Resilience, 10%
Together, Relative Value & Convergence and Repricing Stage make up 60% of the five-year score. This gives the ranking a clear medium-term focus.
International Visitor Exposure uses observed visitor activity from one common 2024 dataset. It does not measure foreign property buyers or residential transactions.
Macro & Physical Resilience uses transparent inputs for currency movements, inflation, unemployment, government debt and projected extreme heat. It is not a full risk report for a city or a building.
What a score means
Both rankings use a relative scale from 0 to 100. A city scores in relation to the other cities in this edition.
A score of 68 does not mean a 68% return. It is not a price forecast, an internal rate of return forecast or a promise about future wealth.
The Index is a comparison tool. It helps readers see where each city is strong, where it is weak and which trade-offs deserve more study.
Which ranking should you use?
Use the Current Investment Case when your main question is:
Where do buying power, gross income, mandatory entry costs and market access look strongest today?
Use the 5-Year Investment Potential ranking when your main question is:
Which markets show the strongest relative medium-term opportunity under the PFC framework?
It is useful to read both. A wide gap between a city’s two ranks is not an error. It can reveal an important trade-off between today’s conditions and the medium-term case.
The next PFC articles will explore the full results, the two category winners and the leading cities in each ranking.
Explore the PFC Property Investor Index and its current and five-year views.