In the first six months of this year, the international market invested 403 million euros in the purchase of houses in Lisbon. The number is not a record only because there was a rush to buy homes in the second half of 2021, a period when foreign investment reached 592.5 million, due to changes in the golden visa regime that came into effect on January 1. Nevertheless, based on the volume applied, we can conclude that excluding real estate purchases in Lisbon from the criteria for granting a residence permit for investment had little impact on the city’s attractiveness to outside buyers. Between January and June, 60 nationalities bought 792 homes in the capital.
With these figures, “it is not visible that there was an impact from the end of the golden visas in Lisbon. The city has consolidated itself as an international destination market”, emphasizes Ricardo Guimarães, director of Confidencial Imobiliário (CI). It is true that investments are down 32% compared to the second half of 2021 and the diversity of nationalities is down from the record 76 registered in that half of last year, showing that there was indeed a race for golden visa. Even so, the volume invested by non-residents in these first six months of the year exceeded the half-yearly average of the past three years, which is between 360 and 390 million, Ricardo Guimarães points out. The feared curtailment of international demand in Lisbon did not happen with the changes to the golden visas.
The French lead the top 5 foreign investors in this first half, having invested 71.5 million euros in the first half of this year in the purchase of 130 homes in the ARU of Lisbon (excluding the parishes of Parque das Nações, Lumiar and Santa Clara). , 18% of the total invested by the international market, according to data made available by CI. North Americans are the second most active nationality (48.3 million, 90 homes), followed by Chinese (38.7 million, 85 homes), British (33.1 million, 65 homes) and, concluding the list, the Brazilian (32.8 million, 45 active) .
As evidenced by the amounts invested, Brazilians are the ones most open to the stock market. These investors account for an average ticket per transaction of EUR 763,300, well above the minimum amount of EUR 500,000 previously required for the acquisition of properties under the golden visa. According to data from CI, they spend on average 40% more per operation than the French, North Americans and British, whose values are between 525 thousand and 566 thousand euros. Of the top 5, the Chinese are the most reluctant with an average of 464,200 euros. In total, foreigners spent an average of 509,000 euros per purchase this semester.
The preferences of these investors are focused on the parishes of Santo António, Avenidas Novas, Estrela, Arroios, Misericórdia and Santa Maria Maior, which now show a wider spread over the territory than usual. In Misericórdia and Santa Maria Maior, foreigners continue to dominate transactions, accounting for 71% and 83% of the amount invested respectively. In Avenidas Novas and Arroios, these investors are gaining prominence and already account for about 40% of sales. In the other parishes, the international market accounts for no more than 25% of transactions.
Foreigners were therefore responsible for 33% of the 1225 million investments in housing at the ARU Lisbon in the first half of this year and for 26% of the 3100 operations. The Portuguese bought 2275 houses, with a total value of 822.3 million. The average ticket was 361.5 thousand euros, well below the rate of non-residents.
For this second half of the year, marked by rising interest rates and galloping inflation, a reduction in the number of transactions must be admitted, says Ricardo Guimarães. “The fall in demand due to credit restrictions, the lower availability of new homes on the market – the dynamics of property promotion also fell due to the rise in construction costs -, the fall in the supply of used homes, which should enter the rental market should lead to a decline in sales,” he emphasizes. As he recalls, “in a context of inflation, the rental market is a haven, as properties ultimately do not devalue”.
Source: DN
