Rising summer temperatures, combined with increasingly severe wildfires and the drought that has affected Central Europe and the UK this year, are prompting a growing number of people to relocate from southern Europe to northern Spain, France and Italy, where many affluent Europeans are now seeking better living conditions. These extreme weather events are making new parts of the continent increasingly attractive to Europe's upper and middle classes.
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After nearly a decade on Spain's Costa del Sol, the heat had become unbearable for Gabriele Pohl. Temperatures regularly exceeding 38°C made it difficult to spend time outdoors during the day, while water shortages were threatening the viability of her business, which involves caring for and training horses for business executives.
Last winter, she and her husband moved to Tomiño, a small town in Galicia, in northern Spain near the Portuguese border. “You go northwest if you want enough water, you want good temperatures, you want green fields, you want good food and good wine,” Pohl, 58, told The Wall Street Journal.
She is one of many Europeans who have moved north in search of cooler weather and better living conditions. Drought and heatwaves have turned large parts of Europe into a tinderbox this summer, with wildfires affecting Spain, France and Greece. River levels in Germany have fallen to record lows, while England's traditionally green countryside has turned straw-yellow. These conditions are making new areas of the continent increasingly attractive to Europe's upper and middle classes.
Data on internal migration remains incomplete, but Spain's most recent figures, published for 2024, show population growth in northern provinces driven by arrivals from other parts of the country. Property prices suggest that this trend has continued.
House prices in northern Spanish regions such as Cantabria and Asturias rose by 17.2% and 14.1%, respectively, in August compared with the previous year, according to idealista. This growth significantly exceeds that recorded in major cities such as Barcelona and Madrid, where prices increased by around 7%.
A similar pattern can be seen in France, where cities such as Caen, Le Havre and Brest, on the Atlantic coast, recorded house-price increases of around 9% during the first half of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to French notaries. By contrast, Bordeaux, which has been affected by major wildfires this year, saw prices fall by 2%.
Florence Chapelier, 53, moved to Normandy from southern France last year, leaving behind the architectural design business she ran with her husband. “Summers in Aix-en-Provence had become so hot that my cats were having trouble breathing. It became a constant struggle against the weather. We were just surviving, not living,” she said.
She has since moved to a much larger property for the same price as her previous home and has been able to resume hobbies such as gardening and swimming after spending much of the summer indoors in her former residence.
According to research by Adrián Fernández-Pérez, an adjunct professor at University College Dublin, a greater number of days with temperatures above 35°C is generally associated with lower sale and rental values. “For Spanish property developers and investors, this highlights profitable opportunities in cooler regions, where housing demand is shifting,” Fernández-Pérez said.
But it's not just about the heat
Researchers in Italy have also found that persistent drought can be a deciding factor for people leaving rural agricultural communities in search of more productive land. Olive growers, for example, have increasingly moved north in recent years.
Rising insurance premiums are another factor influencing relocation decisions. In France, premiums for multi-risk home insurance policies, which include cover for natural disasters, increased by 8.4% in 2025, according to the industry association France Assureurs.
Catastrophe insurance premiums are expected to rise by more than 200% by 2050 in southern regions, compared with around 100% in northern and inland areas, according to an analysis by the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority, which oversees the country's banking and insurance sectors.
“Everything that affects housing, including mortgages, property values, the ability to obtain affordable insurance and property taxes, influences the decision to stay in a community or move elsewhere,” said Koko Warner, director of the International Climate Observatory at the University of Pennsylvania.
FJ Unger, a 65-year-old businessman, moved to Galicia in 2022, attracted in part by its relatively mild summers. The region's expansive beaches, renowned cuisine and lower housing costs were additional advantages, he said. “It's not just Spaniards moving here. The area has also become popular with German, Swiss and Dutch residents.”
