Researchers monitored the evolution of property purchases in Lisbon in a 3.6 hectare area around a street in the Alfama district for two years and concluded that of the 150 apartments purchased, only one was for long-term housing.
The study, which focused on the micro-scale analysis of the evolution of housing in the centre of Lisbon, concentrated on the area around Rua dos Remédios, where there are 945 conventional dwellings and where the population was around 900 inhabitants in 2011.
Ana Gago and Agustin Cocola-Gant, researchers from the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning of the University of Lisbon, followed what happened in this street between 2015 and 2017, whose changes reflect a process of transformation of the social fabric of the historic district of the capital of Portugal.
Between 2015 and 2017 in this study area, “150 apartments were purchased but only one for housing purposes”, most of which were converted into tourist accommodation and the rest “remained empty, having been sold off”, note the researchers in the study, which is part of the project “FINHABIT – Living in Financial Times: Housing and Space Production in Democratic Portugal”, coordinated by the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra.
In 2016, 25% of existing accommodation (235 out of 945) was for tourist accommodation, an increase of 60% in just one year.
Of these 235 tourist accommodations, only two of the apartments were houses shared by residents, and in the small Alfama area (All Lisbon Districts) analysed, 14 buildings were totally destined for tourist accommodation, the researchers noted.
According to the study, between 2015 and 2017, 27 families out of a total of 36 people were forced to leave their homes and, of the 27 identified houses from which these residents left, 18 gave way to local housing and the rest “remain empty”.
“In addition, there have been several imminent cases of direct homelessness, so it appears that these figures will increase in the near future”, the study warns, stressing that this process of homelessness – which in most cases is due to the non-renewal of a lease or an unaffordable increase in rent – “affects not only low-income tenants, but also people from the middle classes, who are already highly paid and willing to pay more”.
On this street, it has become “common practice” to see “real estate agents and property managers walking around” and asking residents if they want to sell their property.
In the case study, the researchers also point out that there has not been a single investment situation for long-term rentals and that there are also several investors who buy buildings, not to take advantage of rents but to leave them empty.
“There is every indication that the use of housing as a capital deposit is also happening in Lisbon, as it is in other cities around the world, and that it is being stimulated by the rise in property market prices in Lisbon“, they point out in the study integrated into the FINHABIT project, the results of which are contained in the book “A Nova Questão da Habitação em Portugal“, which is launched today by Conjuntura Actual Editora, of the Almedina Group.
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