Portugal's property market rebounds

Buying property in Portugal has become even more affordable thanks to mortgage rates being slashed by up to 1.5% this month.

Related topics:  Overseas
Warren Lewis
31st March 2015
portugal

Deals available through overseas mortgage specialist, Conti, now start at 3.35% for a variable rate of up to 30% loan to value and 3.4% for a variable rate of up to 60% loan to value.

The financial crisis of 2007 left the Portuguese economy reeling and property prices collapsed by more than 30%. The country’s economy has now stabilised, however, and residential property values increased nationally in 2014. But prices are still generally below pre-recession levels, so investors, feeling more confident about the future and buoyed by the growing strength of the pound, are making their move while there are bargains to be had.

Foreign buyers, in fact, accounted for more than one in five sales last year, and it’s Britons who are leading the charge, followed by the Chinese and French. It’s perhaps no surprise, therefore, that Portugal is currently third on Conti’s list of hot spots, after Spain and France. Property is bouncing back and it remains a buyer’s market in most areas.

Clare Nessling, director at Conti, says: “After years of stagnation, Portugal’s property market is on the up again at last. The reduced cost of funding together with continued interest from Portuguese lenders to assist non-residents to buy property means that many deals are becoming cheaper. And this is providing an even greater incentive for people to invest.”   

The Portuguese property market has also been boosted by the success of the Golden Visa scheme, which was launched in 2012 and grants residency status to non-EU citizens who purchase property worth more than €500,000.   

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