The Recovery and Resilience Plan foresees the construction of 26,000 homes by 2026, but the director of Confidencial Imobiliário believes this goal will not be achieved. In an interview with Antena 1 e Negócios, Ricardo Guimarães highlights the “lack of capacity to adapt the funds to the increase in construction costs”, pointing to “several processes where in the end there are no more competitors to build”.

“It would be great if there was the capacity to achieve this level of construction, but I think the investment levels in question are absolutely incompatible with what the track record”, the economist emphasizes.

The National Building Rehabilitation Fund, presented in 2016, is an example of what could happen with the PRR. He states: “As far as I know it hasn’t delivered any houses yet. And therefore the experience so far does not indicate a sense of an ability to achieve anything.”

Market access

Regarding the More Housing Package, re-approved by the Socialist majority in Parliament after the veto of the President of the Republic, the economist argues that the measures are “great to alleviate the problems for those in the market”, but that the housing problem not our hands, current tenants and owners, “it’s up to those who want to enter the market and can’t”. “I do not see any measures aimed at young people, who today do not have access to the market, either through purchase, with credit or through leasing,” he emphasizes.

As for the brake on rental prices, the director of Confidencial Imobiliário foresees negative effects of the measure. “If we remember what happened not so long ago with Lisbon and Porto, we already know that freezing rents promotes lower prices, but also promotes degradation and impoverishment.”

According to him, intervening in the determination of rental prices is an obstacle to rehabilitation. “It is not only the owner who rents out the house or building, but also the neighbor, because at a certain point a dilapidated building also affects the renovation of the building next door.”

It is important, says Ricardo Guimarães, that the country develops “rental investment activities” so that the market expands.

With regard to the planned changes to the Local Accommodation (AL) it is equally important: “You get the damage without getting the benefit.” The economist predicts that many homes currently in AL will be sold or left for short-term rentals. It is unlikely that the government’s target of transferring many of these properties to long-term rentals will be achieved, the director of Confidencial Imobiliário predicts.