Nationalities and people’s reasons for buying properties and moving to Portugal are increasing all the time.
In 2015, buyers from 26 countries decided to move to Portugal. Last year that total leapt by 65% to 43.
So says real estate company JLL Cobertura which lists the most ‘popular’ buyers as coming from Brazil, France, China, South Africa, Libya and Turkey.
With the allure of “golden visas” now taking something of a back seat – at least for the Chinese – Portuguese residencies still carry fiscal benefits for a number of nationalities, though JLL’s residential sector boss Patrícia Barão says Portugal now is just being chosen because it is a “great place to spend one’s retirement”.
The growth in tourism has made more people aware of what the country has to offer, and the competitive price of property per square metre is doing the rest.
Said Barão, prime spots in Lisbon are still (only) €8000 per sq/m, when in Madrid they are €10,000; Berlin – €12,000, Paris – €18,000 and London as much as €27,000.
In other words, Portugal’s attraction to foreign buyers is set to continue for 2017.
“Everything indicates that it will last”, agreed the property company’s director general Pedro Lencastre, “as long as we can understand and support the investment strategies of the players in Portugal, and as long as there is fiscal stability”.
Elsewhere, Eurostat reveals that while property prices generally are rising throughout Europe, Portugal is one of four countries where they have increased the most – at least during the last three months of last year.
Going up 7.6%, property “more than doubled the average for the eurozone” (+ 3.5%), coming in behind Hungary (+ 11.6%9), Latvia (+10.6%) and Bulgaria (up 8.8%).
The only countries to see prices tumble were Cyprus (down 3.3%) and Italy (-0.9%).
