If the saying goes that "all the roads lead to Rome", if we had it our way, Lisbon would lead to Portuguese Rome. For many years, in the Portuguese real estate sector, there was a sharp increase for real estate search in the Portuguese capital, which is the main focus of demand for housing.
One of the regions that the APEMIP association shows as highly valued by this trend will be Porto. This city has for the first time witnessed high real estate demand this year. The president of APEMIM, Luis Lima, says that this trend will last until property supply decreases and believes that, eventually, the demand will move to other parts of the country, where there is more supply.
Luis Lima also believes that it is necessary to use new buildings by investing in them and presenting them to those who are looking for affordable housing. According to the president of APEMIP, contrary to the tendency to offer small and overvalued properties, the real estate market will have everything at its disposal to grow by 30% this year.
According to data provided by APEMIP, in 2016, family homes for sale grew by 18.5% compared to the previous year.
Photo: © Diego Delso
Among current expectations, it is believed that, following the growth logic we have been seeing (according to sales reported by real estate brokerage firms, real estate prices rose by 7.5% in the period from September 2015 and September 2016), with the cities of Lisbon, Faro and Braga being those in which prices rose the most. Real estate prices are expected to continue rising, with the belief that sales will grow by about 30%.
This scenario of steady growth, clearly manifested in five quarters of recovery, reveals a significant improvement that has not been seen in this sector since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008. This is likely to be related to the greater ease of access to mortgages and interest rates that have reached historically levels. This ease of access to loans and mortgages, coupled with lower monthly payments, therefore boosts purchasing power, although the real estate prices are - and tend to continue - rising. These are the reasons for the high demand in the real estate market.
