Dubai and Abu Dhabi rank in top 10 places to buy a holiday home: Venice tops the list

The UAE capital ranks third thanks to low crime levels and an average cost of living

1. St Mark’s Campanile in Piazza San Marco, Venice. The city has been ranked the best place in the world to buy a holiday home. Getty Images

2. Paphos in Cyprus scores 6.91 for its pleasant Mediterranean climate, affordable property prices and rich history. Getty Images

3. Abu Dhabi picked up points for its weather and for being the safest destination in the survey. Photo: Khushnum Bhandari / The National

4. Dubai scored well for the number of restaurants in the city, its low rainfall and a lack of crime. Photo: Pawan Singh / The National

5. Funchal in the Madeira islands in Portugal is the fifth-most popular place to buy a holiday home

6. Corfu in Greece is the sixth-best place to buy a holiday home. Photo: Calin Stan / Unsplash

7. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, ranked in seventh place. Photo: Vidar Nordli / Unsplash

8. Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Spain ranked eighth among the best places to buy a holiday home. Photo: Maria Lupan / Unsplash

9. Ninth-placed Larnaca solidified a second top 10 entry for Cyprus. Photo: Hert Niks

10. Marbella in Spain’s Costa del Sol rounded out the list of the best places to buy a bolt hole. Photo: Drew Graham

Dubai and Abu Dhabi rank in the top 10 best places in the world to buy a holiday home.

Venice is the number one place to purchase a home in the sun, followed by Paphos and Abu Dhabi, according to a new study from price comparison website Compare the Market. Dubai is another top choice for anyone considering buying a holiday home, with the emirate ranking fourth in the global top 10.

Venice takes the top spot in the new rankings with a score of 6.92 out of 10. The northern Italian city offers a huge concentration of things to do and places to eat and drink within a relatively small area. There are 358 sightseeing destinations per 10,000 people in Venice, including hugely popular tourist sites such as St Mark's Basilica, Doge's Palace, Grand Canal and Piazza San Marco.

A gondola on Venice's Grand Canal. The Italian city tops a new list of the best places in the world to buy a holiday home. Reuters

Second-placed Paphos, on Cyprus’ south-west coast, scores 6.91 with top marks for its pleasant Mediterranean climate, affordable property prices and rich history.

The UAE capital ranks in third place with a score of 6.70. Abu Dhabi picked up points for its weather and being the safest destination in the survey.

“The city has grown rapidly in recent decades, with modern skyscrapers and shopping malls gracing the city’s skylines, as well as reminders of the area’s cultural heritage through the likes of the vast Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque,” says Compare the Market.

Abu Dhabi’s monthly cost of living for a family placed the capital right in the middle of the surveyed destinations with an estimated average monthly cost of £2,072 ($2,835) for a family of four. The capital didn’t score quite so well when it comes to things to do, with an average of only five attractions per 10,000 people according to the study.

Dubai is fourth best place for holiday home

Dubai is the fourth-best place in the world to buy a holiday home, scoring for its lack of crime and number of restaurants

Dubai ranks in fourth place on the list, just behind Abu Dhabi with a score of 6.57 out of 10. The emirate scored well for the number of restaurants in the city, its low rainfall and a lack of crime.

“Similar to Abu Dhabi, Dubai has high temperatures and low rainfall, perfect for sun worshippers looking to buy abroad," Compare the Market says.

In fifth place is Portugal’s Funchal, the capital city of the Madeira archipelago. It is followed by Corfu in Greece.

Travellers looking to buy a holiday home in Spain can look to the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, with Las Palmas ranking in seventh place and Santa Cruz coming in at number eight. Ninth-placed Larnaca solidified a second top 10 entry for Cyprus. Rounding out the list of the best places in the world to buy a bolt hole is sunny Marbella in Spain’s Costa del Sol.

Top 10 places to own a holiday home

Aphrodite's Rock in Paphos. The city in Cyprus is the second-best destination to have a house in the sun. Getty Images

1. Venice, Italy
2. Paphos, Cpyrus
3. Abu Dhabi, UAE
4. Dubai, UAE
5. Funchal, Portugal
6. Corfu, Greece
7. Gran Canaria, Spain
8. Tenerife, Spain
9. Larnaca, Cyprus
10. Marbella, Spain

Researchers at Compare the Market stacked up more than 50 global destinations across seven factors including weather, crime rates, things to do, number of restaurants, cost of living and property prices. The study used data from Tripadvisor, Numbeo and Holiday Weather to garner average statistics and assign points to each destination in order to create the top 10 list.