Foreigners buying houses in Portugal have been instrumental in helping the recovery of the national real estate market in recent years.
Between 2012 and 2017, foreigners bought 70,700 homes in Portugal, at a cost of €11.1 billion.
According to the accounts of the Association of Construction, Public Works and Services Companies (AECOPS), non-residents invested around €800 million in real estate in the Portuguese market in 2012. This figure more than tripled in 2017, hitting €2.8 billion.
The data show that 2014 was the year in which the real estate transactions by non-residents was the highest percentage (15.7% of the total), declining since then, to 11.5% in 2017.
A significant part of the acquisitions, in 2014, was for properties over €500,000 which represented 44% of purchases.
The Algarve continues to be the region most preferred by foreigners buying houses, 43% of acquisitions in 2017 were in the region, followed by purchases in Lisbon and the Alentejo, at 37%
Almost half of the total cash spent on houses by foreigners in this five year period was from United Kingdom residents (18.3%), followed by the French (17.9%) and the Chinese (12.7%).
