Portuguese real estate market holds up

&amp;NewLine;<p>The Swedish real estate market is currently experiencing a decline in sales&amp;comma; with a decrease of 12 &amp;percnt; between May and July compared to the same period last year&amp;comma; according to data from broker Svensk Mäklarsamfundet&amp;period; This decline is accompanied by&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;lower property prices and&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;more expensive credit&amp;period; <&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>This Swedish real estate crisis is causing concern among analysts&amp;comma; who remember the 90s crisis in that country&amp;comma; which led to problems for the financial system&amp;period; What about the Portuguese real estate market &amp;quest; <&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading"><strong>Portuguese Real Estate Market Resists European Downward Trend<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>However&amp;comma; in Portugal&amp;comma; the situation is different&amp;period; "We are very far from&amp;semi;a mirror&amp;period; There&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;is no forecast of a downturn in the real estate market in the coming years"&amp;comma; says Hugo Santos Ferreira&amp;comma; president of the Portuguese Association of Real Estate Developers and Investors &amp;lpar;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;appii&period;pt&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noreferrer noopener">APPII<&sol;a>&amp;rpar;&amp;comma; in statements to Lusa&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>João Duque, economist and professor at ISEG&amp;comma; points out that prices and transactions on the European real estate market have been on a downward trend since the fourth quarter of last year&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>He explains that although there is an overall positive variation in the European house price index calculated by Eurostat&amp;comma; when the levels of this index are compared with those of the previous year&amp;comma;previous year&amp;comma; some markets are already showing a marked negative variation&amp;colon; -6&amp;comma;9 &amp;percnt; in Sweden&amp;comma; -6&amp;comma;8 &amp;percnt; in Germany&amp;comma; -6&amp;comma;2 &amp;percnt; in Denmark and -5&amp;comma;1 &amp;percnt; in Finland&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>"Some markets are still attracting many investors&amp;comma; perhaps because of the lack of interesting and attractive alternatives offered by the conditions granted by local authorities, or because prices are still low and the prospects for economic dynamism are high&amp;lpar;Croatia&amp;comma; Slovakia&amp;comma; Slovenia&amp;comma; Hungary&amp;comma; Estonia&amp;comma; Bulgaria or even Portugal&amp;rpar;"&amp;comma; he points out&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>On the other hand, statistics show that the transaction market <strong>is cooling rapidly across Europe<&sol;strong>&amp;comma; with declines of up to -50 &amp;percnt; in Finland and -8 &amp;percnt; in Bulgaria&amp;comma; <strong>the Portuguese market recorded a -25% drop in housing transactions&amp;period;<&sol;strong> The situation is changing in Europe&amp;period; The increase in the number of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;vivreauportugalconsulting&period;com&sol;taux-dinteret-au-portugal-augmente&sol;" data-type&equals;"post" data-id&equals;"8778">interest rate<&sol;a> This is to be expected&amp;period; The question is whether supply is willing to keep the property&amp;comma; even if it is vacant&amp;comma; or whether this condition or the rise in interest rates leads to a hasty sale"&amp;comma; he points out&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>Hugo Santos Ferreira points out that the most recent data from the National Statistics Institute &amp;lpar;INE&amp;rpar; indicate that "&amp;lbrack;houses in Portugal&amp;rsqb; have continued to increase in value&amp;comma; although&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;there have been fewer&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;appraisals"&amp;comma; which already represents "a difference with Sweden"&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>"There is always an imbalance in the market&amp;comma; with high demand and low supply"&amp;comma; he insists&amp;comma; stressing that&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;it is "important not to let asset depreciation happen"&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>The Chairman of APPII believes that if assets start to depreciate as in Sweden &amp;&amp;num;8211&amp;semi; which he doesn&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;t think will happen -&amp;comma; family wealth will decline&amp;comma; economic risk&amp;comma; financial and banking risk will increase and&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;foreign direct investment &amp;lpar;FDI&amp;rpar; will decline&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>Despite the Swedish real estate crisis&amp;comma; Pedro Brinca believes that the country has the necessary tools to face this challenge &amp;colon; "Sweden has&amp;comma; in terms of budgetary position&amp;comma; the capacity to&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;intervene in the sector to alleviate any financial problems&amp;comma; in addition to having its own currency&amp;period; This gives it&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;other means that Portugal doesn&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;t have"&amp;comma; he explains&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;