With the pound in another accentuated fall against the euro, Bloomberg business press reports that business is booming for Portuguese real estate agents faced with Brits scrambling to cut their losses.
Nowhere has this trend been more evident than in southern Portugal’s Algarve, says the outlet – suggesting Brits are bailing out to the delight of a new wave of incoming French expats.
Said Alison Buechner Hojbjerg, a director at top-flight Quinta Properties real estate agency: “Both buyers and vendors have tried, quite understandably, to take advantage of the fluctuating currencies, and for the most part this has worked well for the market.
“Many vendors are sterling based and consequently were prepared to accept lower offers, which resulted in some great deals for both parties”.
Monday saw the pound dip even further, in anticipation of a “hard Brexit” speech to come on Tuesday from British PM Theresa May, thus the trend looks set to continue.
The “French invasion” has been a feature of the Algarve’s property sale ‘revival’ for two years (click here), playing right into the “strong portfolios” of companies like Fine & Country which has an extensive British client-base.
And then of course there is the aspect that property prices generally in Portugal are on the increase (click here).
Bloomberg says that the falling pound won’t put all Brits off their ‘second home in paradise’, however. A source for the article said: “We like the climate, the relaxed way of life and the coffee mentality too much to even consider selling our second home here”, despite the uncertainty over Britons’ situations post the UK’s decision to trigger Article 50.
