Chinese investors are moving in on the inner-city area of Martim Moniz in Lisbon – lavishing €6 million on the purchase of 22 apartments.
It will mean Golden Visas for many, writes Correio da Manhã newspaper, and it comes as a huge boost for heavily-indebted municipal company EPUL (Empresa Pública de Urbanização de Lisboa), currently in the process of liquidation.
The group of investors is reported to have made their offer to EPUL at the end of last week. It centres on a selection of apartments in an area already buzzing with Chinese-owned businesses.
Some of the apartments are reportedly going for as much as €450,900 (three-bedroom), others are selling for as little as €157,700 (one-bedroom).
The average price for each apartment, according to CM, is around €272,700, and negotiations are said to have started mid-February.
“Even though the property market is starting to show signs of recovery, the truth is that a deal like this doesn’t come easily,” writes the paper.
Questioned on the deal, Lisbon council deferred to EPUL which in turn “refused to speak on the matter”.
Residências Martim Moniz – EPUL
Intriguingly, apartments in the Residências Martim Moniz development, where the Chinese are buying, are also being marketed to the city’s youngest buyers.
On its website, EPUL writes that it is promoting Programa EPUL Jovem, with apartments “especially reserved for the young” from the ages of 18-39.
The blurb says: “With one- to three-bedroom apartments, this is a unique opportunity to live in the downtown area of Lisbon in a new building with underground parking.”
… and now, the added novelty of 22 Chinese neighbours!
Golden visas promoted in China
Meantime, Portugal’s real estate sector is going all out to plug Golden Visas in China. The travelling “Gold Show Portugal” is currently visiting Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau, with APEMIP (the Portuguese association of professional property mediators) busily extolling the virtues of the scheme – aimed at non-European investors spending a minimum of €500,000 on real estate – launched with much media razzmatazz by Deputy PM Paulo Portas last year.
