Portugal will “stop issuing golden visas” to wealthy foreign investors, Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced on Thursday, unveiling a series of measures to tackle homelessness and curb property speculation.
These controversial residence permits will only be renewed if the investors who have bought real estate reside there permanently or if they rent it out to residents, the head of the socialist government said.
Portugal has been granting these “investment residence permits” since late 2012, when it was on a financial injection from the European Union and was seeking foreign capital.
The device, which also exists in other European countries, has undergone several revisions. The most recent investments excluded made in Lisbon and Porto, a large city in the north.
6,800 million euros raised
In ten years, Portugal has collected close to 6.8 billion euros in exchange for some 11,600 residence permits granted to candidates willing to pay at least 500,000 euros to purchase a property, invest at least one million euros or create ten jobs. job.
To deal with the housing crisis, the government unveiled on Thursday a package of measures aimed at increasing available housing.
According to the European statistics office Eurostat, the purchase price of housing in Portugal has increased by more than 75% between 2010 and 2022, while rents have increased by almost 25%.
In addition, the country has some 730,000 unoccupied or dilapidated homes, according to the government.
The program presented on Thursday, with a budget of 900 million euros, provides in particular for more favorable taxation in the long-term rental market, a simplification of building permits and measures to help families cope with the increase in rents and monthly mortgage payments.
This package of measures “will be in public consultation for a month” to be definitively adopted by the Government on March 16, said Antonio Costa.
This plan also foresees new restrictions on short-term rental or tourist accommodation, including the suspension of the granting of new licenses in the main cities.
The government has also announced tax benefits for owners who agree to place these seasonal rentals on the residential market.
Source: BFM TV
