Portugal Property Sales to Non-Residents Still Strong

Sales of Portuguese real estate to non-residents is still growing strongly, despite a slight slowdown in growth.

Property sales to non-residents (overseas property investors) saw a ‘significant growth’ of 14.5 per cent in number and 22.2 per cent in value in 2018 compared to 2017, representing 8.2 per cent of transactions, the highest proportion since 2012, according to Statistics Portugal.

Data released this week by the national statistics institute (INE) reveal that, last year, 8.2 per cent of properties traded in Portugal were sold to non-residents, corresponding to 13.0 per cent of the total value, which compares with 7.7 per cent and 11.5 per cent, respectively, in 2017.

Despite the ‘significant growth’ recorded in 2018 in sales of real estate to non-residents – 14.5 per cent in number and 22.2 per cent in value – INE notes that this was lower than in 2017, when the increase was 19.2 per cent in number and 22.6 per cent in value.

The average value of buildings sold to non-residents was €171,178, 58 per cent more than the average value of overall transactions (€108,016), with this relative difference increasing compared to 2017, when it had been 49 per cent.

More than one third of the value of acquisitions of non-residents corresponded to real estate with a unit value equal to or greater than €500,000, with the INE highlighting the ‘high median value’ (€297.200) of real estate sold to residents in China, which was ‘almost six times higher than the market as a whole (€53,000)’.

As in 2017, French residents acquired the most properties in Portugal (19.7 per cent of the total value), followed by residents from the United Kingdom (16.9 per cent), Brazil (8.3 per cent), China (5.1 per cent) and Germany (4.9 per cent).

More than three-quarters of the value of acquisitions by non-residents are concentrated in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (39.5 per cent) and the Algarve (35.9 per cent).