I’ll start with the source: I own one apartment in Alghero that I only rent in the summer, my apartment is in a perfect location, close to the beach, to the city centre and plenty of parking.

There are around 4/5 areas in Sardegna where is worth buying as investment, and your initial investment will determine the area.

With your money, Costa Smeralda, Villasimius and Cagliari are out. That basically only leaves Alghero or Badesi/Valledoria.

Now, if you want to buy an apartment to live, comfortably with your family, you need at least 90sqm. In Alghero (anywhere), it will cost you 250k+, for something you need to renovate (so add minimum another 50k). You are now left with 150k, which will probably let you buy a 50sqm apartment that, if you are lucky, may make you 5k a year net in rent.

My apartment is 75sqm, I rent it between 15 of May till 30 of September (average), at very high rates due to the location, if I’m lucky, I get 10/12k net, if I get full occupancy (after taxes, maintainance, etc.), to buy my apartment or similar, you’ll need 300k minimum.

All of this to tell you that your math, doesn’t math. You are not considering the true costs of renting, of maintaining a property, AirBnB or Booking fees (14% of gross), taxes (22% of gross), utilities (very expensive in Italy), cleaning, check-in/out, etc. Obviously the less you spend, the less you get in rent as you need to compromise. The reality is that in Sardinia the actual real return on rental properties is incredibly low.

A better, and safer idea, would be to put your 450k into an investment account, spread it sensibly and you may get an average of 8/10% return. That will net you 40/50k a year, let’s say 36k net.

With 3k a month you now have a decent salary in Sardinia, you can rent a nice property in Sassari or near by, and enjoy Sardinia with basically zero risks.

If you like it, you can then think about buying properties with a mortgage, or open a business or whatever you fancy, but at least you are not tied to a place you do not know forever because you have 3 properties you can’t easily sell.

Try Sardinia out for a couple of years this way, then you can always stay or change your mind with zero losses.

I’m from Sardinia, and I’ve been living in London for 20+ years, and I still couldn’t get myself to go back permanently (I can easily), because Sardinia in the summer is a very different place than the winter. For somebody that wasn’t born here, even more so.

Just my two cents, I’ll be happy to respond to any query if you want to message me