[BUYING AND SELLING REAL ESTATE IN PORTUGAL]
178
back international investment into Portugal and, more particularly the last quarter of the year, showed signs of what may be considered an upturn of real estate investment activity. The successful outcome of the political crisis, the continued improvement of economic indicators, greater public debt market stability and Portugal’s good performance in terms of the adjustment program, made important contributions to the market recovery. It should be noted that in Portugal, in July 2023, the median bank appraisal value for housing (€/m²) was set at 1,525 euros per square meter, and the implicit interest rate on all mortgage contracts was 3.649% in June, the highest since April 2009. IV. HOW TO MAKE A REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT Portugal, lined with other continental legal systems such as France (propriété), Germany (Voll Eigentum) and England (freehold), adopted the concept of “full ownership” which is defined by the full and exclusive rights of use, fruition, and disposal of the property. IV.1. INDIVIDUAL (DIRECT ACQUISITION) The formalization of a real estate acquisition requires the compliance of some important steps, as follows:
Source: INE, Índice de Preços da Habitação (Housing Price Index). III.2. FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN REAL ESTATE The real estate investment market in Portugal came to notice by the foreign investors since the country joined the Euro in 1999. Several billion euros of foreign capital have been invested mostly by Germans, British, Dutch and Americans on the acquisition of several real properties since then. Recently, investors from China, Russia, Brazil and France have also made a significant impact in Portuguese market. This value could have been higher as the Portuguese market was, on occasions, simply not large enough to supply enough products in terms of number, quality and/or scale, to fully meet the demand recorded at the time. Portugal remained present in the investment intentions of several of the most important European investment houses over the past 15 years, with buyers interested in effectively diversifying risk and achieving slightly higher income returns than those available from other markets, in a country offering security, transparency and less competition. Dramatic changes impacting on European economic situation and in particular on Portugal had driven away the attention of foreign institutional investors until 2013. However, the second half of 2015 brought
ILN Real Estate Group – Buying and Selling Real Estate Series
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter