Portugal Golden Visa Still Top European Visa Program

The Portugal Golden Visa is still the best European visa program for overseas property investors according to visa specialist company The Get Golden Visa.

Charles Taylor Harris, Executive Director of The Get Golden Visa explained that ‘Most applicants for the Portuguese Golden Visa program come from China, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa and Russia, according to statistics released from SEF.

‘Investors from these countries are continuing to invest in Portugal in noticeable numbers, whereas a collection of different nationalities that keeps shifting contributed to 62 new applicants in July 2019.’

Portugal Golden Visa Applications at a 16-Month High

According to The Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service (SEF), in July 2019 a total of 155 new main applicants were awarded their Portuguese residence permits. The total investments for the month add up to 98.3 million euros. This is a record high number after March 2018.

The Chinese are still in the lead with 40 new applicants in July, followed by Brazilians with 37 new applicants. The recent rise in the number of Brazilian may threaten the current Chinese hegemony in Portugal Golden Visa applications.

Portugal Real Estate Market Continues to Rise

Part of the reason for the continued popularity of the Portugal Golden Visa program is that Portuguese real estate is still rising value in 2019.

According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in the first quarter of 2019, housing prices increased by 9.2 per cent. There was a 10 per cent increase in the value of existing properties, whereas newly developed properties registered a 6 per cent increase.

Even though price increases aren’t quite as steep as 2018, demand remains very strong and there is a clear shortage of supply against the demand. Part of this mismatch is due to the continuing demand in the Portugal Golden Visa Program, which strengthens predictions that the real estate market will continue to rise in 2019. CBRE’s Research department increased its real estate investment forecast to 3 billion euros for 2019, signalling an expectation of an increase in real estate investments in the second half of the year.

Portugal’s Attraction

According to EY’s Attractiveness Survey, Portugal is one of the most attractive countries in Europe. The real estate and construction sectors are regarded as the growth engines of the country, as well as the tourism and ICT sectors.

The developments in the real estate sector are also affected positively by Portugal’s position as the 3rd safest country in the Global Peace Index. Portugal consolidates its strong image in the global market and provides a safe investment environment for numerous international investors.