Property market has recovered, Loulé leads Portugal in house sales

Paul 29 July 2014

louleconvent The municipality of Loulé in the Algarve has recorded the largest number of real estate transactions in the country over the first half of 2014, according to data from the research department of the Association of Professional Real Estate Companies of Portugal (APEMIP).

During the first six months of 2014, about 47,000 properties were sold in Portugal.

The second quarter figure of 23,900 transactions represents an annualised increase of 3%.

APEMIP reported that the highest number of successful transactions were in the popular Loulé area, "The main driver for the recovery of Portuguese real estate market has been foreign investment, stimulated by programmes such as the Golden Visa sacheme and the fiscal regime for those not ordinarily resident, both of which affected positively the internal market," said the president of APEMIP, Luís Lima.

To Lima, these overall first quarter figures show the "recovery of the real estate sector."

"The number of transactions now has increased for four consecutive quarters, which means that the calendar year to June 30th 2014 is the year of confirmation that the housing sector has recovered."

Comments

+1 #6 PeeGee 2015-02-09 07:54

House sales have little to do with the real economy as most sales are foreigners buying holiday or retirement homes .
Also there will be a lost generation in Portugal as many youngsters ( probably 1 million ) have left the country for abroad to work and probably will not come back , and this will leave a massive hole in consumption , fewer workers , less tax income , something the Troika did not calculate into their equations . Portugal will follow the same process as before , when many left for abroad , and require massive injection of money for infrastructure , but will lack the young people as workers . The EU one size fits all policy does not and will never work , and this will eventually be the downfall of the EU

+1 #5 RCK 2014-07-30 19:51

Surely any positive news on recovery in the property market in Portugal is good news? Don't knock it. "From little acorns........". The recovery has to start somewhere. And what is wrong with positive spin?
Talk things down and all you will usually end up with is a self fulfilling negative prophecy. Confidence ultimately breeds confidence. On the subject of Vale do Lobo & Quinta do Lago, whilst I would not personally choose to own property there, I think the word "up market" would be a more apt description personally.

+1 #4 Max van Peer 2014-07-30 17:32

Fully agree with Peter Booker's observation .

+3 #3 Paul 2014-07-30 14:28

'Ghetto' (Italian, from Venetian dialect ghèto island where Jews were forced to live, from ghetàr to cast, from Latin jactare to throw) may have been a bit harsh. Maybe 'property estates with high foreign ownership' would have been better, if clumsier. Peter is right that the general property owner trying currently to sell still is looking at a fraught 1.5 to 2 years of waiting. Lima heads the estate agency association so will always go for the best, rosiest spin, that is his job. The real problem here for the low to middle market are the tens of thousands of repossession that the banks dare not release all at once. VdL and QdL have been affected but not as badly as the middle market where property values have slumped and sales volume has evaporated. If this middle market comes back to life, then we are all back in business.

+1 #2 Valerie Else 2014-07-30 13:45

Peter of course is entitled to his opinions, however I think the terminology he uses, " expatriate ghettos" is a little harsh, surely we should embrace the fact that people, whatever their nationality are investing in this country, don't be so negative, bet he bought his house at a good price many years ago. ....................anyhow what is wrong with Vale do Lobo and Quinta do Largo? some lovely places there, I think you are a bit of a snob Peter, get over it.

+3 #1 Peter Booker 2014-07-30 09:54

Lima´s remark is a disingenuous publicity soundbite because `has recovered´ has an air of finality about it. Loulé includes the major expatriate ghettoes of Vale do Lobo and Quinta do Lago, and I suspect that most of the transactions have taken place in this foreign sector. How many purchasers are French nationals, for example, getting away from the punitive tax regime in France? As far as Portuguese are concerned, we are still in a housing slump.

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