Latest figures of the real estate market in Portugal
Housing prices in Portugal are now reaching record highs. In May 2018, house prices rose by 16.4% compared to the same month in 2017, demonstrating that the trend will continue to intensify and perhaps even accelerate over the year 2019. As a reminder, at the end of 2017, the Portuguese property market recorded a 12.8% increase compared to 2016. If this increase continues, prices will soon be waiting for new records. In May 2018, prices were 6% higher than in December 2017.
According to the house price index and the latest release, the price increase in April 2018 (+2%) was higher than in May (0.9%) and has been rising steadily since June 2016. The biggest increase in house prices in Portugal was 2.4% between May and June 2017.
This index is calculated on the basis of information on actual transaction prices captured in the SIR (Sistema de Informação Residencial). A huge database that provides accurate information on real estate price trends. According to the same data, house prices will continue to rise in Portugal for the next three years before gradually starting to stabilise.
Most of the estate agents consulted in Lisbon or elsewhere share this feeling. Some said: “Prices cannot continue to rise as they have done so far. There has to be a limit”. And this is also the opinion of economists or financial entities. Last week, Standard & Poor’s published a report estimating that prices would rise by 9.5% this year but that they would only increase by 6% and 5% over the next 3 years.
We would already reach the limit of the increase in real estate prices in Lisbon unlike in Porto where “the interest started later” in terms of investment or expatriation by foreigners. The same is true on the outskirts of these cities (as in Amadora, Odivelas, Gaia and Matosinho) or in the countryside where demand for property purchases is growing and could in the future exceed supply and drive up prices.
Reasons for the rise in property prices
Below are the different reasons for the increase in house prices in Portugal in 2018:
- Exhaustion of supply: there are fewer and fewer new houses to offer or building plots.
- Increasing demand for purchases, which will continue to grow, but also demand from the Portuguese people
- Portugal’s growing economy: economic growth is expected to continue this year but less than last year
- More jobs: the unemployment rate is falling, which means that more people are employed and therefore more purchasing power is available to the housing market.
- Low interest rates: Interest rates are expected to remain low, which would reduce the cost of borrowing and thus enable the Portuguese to buy goods.
Buying real estate in Lisbon, let us accompany you
Faced with these rising figures for the real estate market in Portugal, the multiplication of intermediaries and a drop in the number of properties available for sale, it is strongly advised to be accompanied by a local person to make a real estate purchase in Lisbon or elsewhere in the country.
If you are in this case and need help, fill in the form below and let yourself be guided by professionals of the real estate sector in Lisbon and Portugal: dedicated and English-speaking real estate agents.
They can assist you in all your real estate purchase or expatriation process in the Lisbon area :
- Telephone enquiries and discussions about your project
- Selection of properties that match your criteria
- Upstream visit of the houses or apartments in order to validate them for you
- Visit planning
- Support to obtain your Portuguese TIN
- Accompaniment to a notary to finalize the sale
By validating the contact form, you authorize me to transmit your request to English-speaking estate agencies of reference which will be able to contact you directly. Nothing is automated: they are people based in Lisbon who are qualified to accompany you in your approach & your project.
