Portugal Property Sales Rising

Residential property sales in Portugal are rising, with enquiries from new buyers increasing in February at the fastest rate since September 2015.

The latest housing survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Confidencial Imobiliário has shown that the rate of sales growth has now strengthened in each of the last three index reports.

Furthermore estate agents expect property sales to continue increasing over the next three months, and are they expected to average at least a 5 per cent increase per annum over the next five years.

The strongest growth has been seen in Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve with demand from both Portugese nationals and overseas property investors continuinely increasing.

Property sales nationally in Portugal rose marginally for the second quarter running, but again demand was even higher and this demand is expected to place significant upward pressure on property prices.

Regionally Lisbon showed the strongest gains, but the Algarve is expected to see continuinely strengthening growth over the next year.

With strong demand showing in Portugal, the national confidence indicator, which is a combination of near term price and sales expectations, has moved higher to a reading of +42. This constitutes the highest rating since the indicator began in 2010.

A shortage of landlord listings in Portugal is also pushing rents higher across the country, and coupled with the rising property demand this trend is expected to continue throughout 2017.

With the economy in Portugal showing clear signs of recovery, potential yields for overseas property investors in the country look promising.

Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, commented: ‘Over the past 12 months Portugal’s labour market has seen a sustained recovery, with overall employment levels rising by nearly 2.5%. Stronger employment, along with the broader improvement across the economy more generally, appears to be providing crucial support to continued growth in housing market activity.