Ratings agency Moody’s has given the Portuguese property market its seal of approval this week, suggesting the upward trend for house prices is certain to continue for the next few years.

Portugal is already one of the European countries with the highest rises in property prices, but while the rest of the continent is in for “modest increases” to 2020, Moody’s believes Portugal will be steaming ahead, with values increasing by as much as 7-8%.

The citizenship, and residency-by-investment programmes, commonly known as golden visas, offered by some EU Member States have repeatedly sparked controversy.

Applicants and grantees associated with dubious sources of wealth have made headlines in various countries, and the opacity which characterises many of the schemes has raised concerns over risks of money-laundering and to the security of the EU and its Member States. 

China's President Xi Jinping began a three-day visit to Spain on Tuesday and will stop in Portugal on December 4-5 on his way home.

China is looking to strengthen ties within Europe as the trade war with the US looks set to continue. 

Portugal is one of the countries where house prices have increased the most in recent years - and it should maintain that status over the next few years, according to Moody's estimates. 

The rating agency predicts that the value of residential real estate will increase from 7% to 8% by 2020, and notes that Portugal is one of the countries where prices have risen most in recent years. For European markets, Moody's expects a modest rise over the next two years.

President Xi Jinping of China is half-way through his three-day visit to Spain, en-route for a G20 meeting in Argentina. On his way ‘home’, he will be coming through Portugal. The reason: to ‘strengthen ties’ (meaning ‘eye-up investment opportunities’). It’s a direction that other EU leaders are trying to subvert. The world’s press explains:

At last, a Europe-wide survey that sees Portugal coming out on top.

“Being Black in the EU” was published yesterday and puts Portugal “among the countries where black people feel less discriminated”.

Over a decade since a father playing ball with his son noticed that the family’s apartment floor had a definite unexplained tilt to it, the Austral building in Quarteira’s Rua Alagoa is finally to be the focus of “corrective works”.

Loulé mayor Vítor Aleixo has described the anomaly as “worrying in terms of risk”, but the story in tabloid Correio da Manhã today doesn’t explain whether the building is actually listing, or simply permanently inclined.

Critics said it could never happen, but three years on from the formation of Portugal’s ‘geringonça’ (contraption) government, there is every sign that it won’t just reach the end of its four-year term next October but will win the next legislative elections hands-down. For political bystanders, this has been a ‘magical mystery tour’ where positive PR has been the name of the game.