The leader of the rating is the Italian city of Catania
According to the latest data from Global Property Guide, the leader of the ranking in 2026 is Catania in Sicily. Gross rental yield here reaches 9.17%. One-room apartment worth about 70 thousand euros. can bring more than 11% per annum, and studios – up to 12%, reports Euronews.
Second place was taken by the Sicilian city of Palermo. The average gross yield there is 8.25%. One-room apartments costing about 85 thousand euros provide almost 10% per annum, which makes the market one of the most attractive in Western Europe on the ratio of price and rental income.
In third place is Irish Cork with a yield of 8.2%. Analysts attribute the high demand for rentals to population growth, as well as the development of the technological and pharmaceutical sectors.
The top five also include the Finnish university city of Jyväskylä (8.02%) and Italian Turin (7.68%). In the latter, individual properties can provide yields above 10%, which is a rarity for major cities in Western Europe.
Among European capitals the highest rates were demonstrated by Riga (7.47%), Barcelona (7.4%), Dublin (7.22%) and Rome (7.12%). At the same time, in Rome, yields differ significantly depending on location: in the historical center they are noticeably lower than in residential areas outside it.
The study shows that high yields are increasingly found in markets with a relatively low entry threshold. In Naples, Palermo and Catania, for example, the value of investment apartments remains significantly lower than in the largest cities in Northern and Western Europe, while rental demand is supported by tourism, students and the local labor market.
Global Property Guide notes that the rating is based on gross yields – the ratio of property values to rental rates without taking into account taxes, maintenance costs and other investor costs. Therefore, actual yields may vary depending on local regulation and cost structure.
