Once in Portugal, people don't want to come back

<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Since 2013&amp;comma; Portugal has introduced an almost total income tax exemption &amp;lpar;for 10 years&amp;rpar; for expatriates settling in the country&amp;period; Very effective in the first few months&amp;comma; is this measure still sufficient to attract new residents &amp;quest; Answer with Cécile Goncalves&amp;comma; director of the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;real estate agency Maison au Portugal&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><span class&equals;"s1"><strong>La Tribune &amp;colon;<&sol;strong> How does the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;tax exemption work for new residents &amp;quest; Is it reserved for seniors &amp;quest;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><span class&equals;"s1"><strong>Cécile Goncalves&amp;comma; director of <span class&equals;"s2">House in Portugal<&sol;span> &amp;colon;<&sol;strong> The tax advantage introduced in 2013 is based on the status of non-habitual resident&amp;comma; which implies not having been resident in Portugal for tax purposes for the last five years&amp;comma; but it is not subject to age or nationality requirements&amp;period; This makes it possible to&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;attract both retirees&amp;comma; with high purchasing power&amp;comma; and professionals in sectors that need them&amp;period; This will mainly concern high value-added activities&amp;colon; contractors&amp;comma; architects&amp;comma; designers&amp;comma; etc&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><span class&equals;"s1">If a French retiree moves to Portugal, he won't pay any tax on his retirement pensions for ten years&amp;period; Someone who comes to work will only pay 20% tax on the income he earns from his activity in Portugal, also for ten years&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><strong><span class&equals;"s1">If so, will the exemption be stopped for those who benefit from it?<&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><span class&equals;"s1">All those who have arrived since 2013 will continue to benefit from the tax exemption, whatever happens, as it is unconstitutional in Portugal to make the law retroactive&amp;period; Moreover&amp;comma; from what we perceive here in Portugal&amp;comma; calling it into question is not topical&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;period; The measure was enacted by the current right-wing government, but had already been envisaged by the previous socialist government&amp;comma; so there's a real political consensus&amp;period; The majority of the Portuguese are in favor of this exemption&amp;comma; in a truly pragmatic move &amp;colon; they know how beneficial it is for the country's&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;economy&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><strong><span class&equals;"s1">What is the typical profile of the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;expatriate in Portugal &amp;quest;<&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><span class&equals;"s1">In 2015&amp;comma; the top three countries for new residents were Great Britain &amp;lpar;23&amp;percnt;&amp;rpar;&amp;comma; China &amp;lpar;18&amp;percnt;&amp;rpar; and France &amp;lpar;16&amp;percnt;&amp;rpar;&amp;period; In the first half of 2016&amp;comma; the French came out on top&amp;comma; representing 25&amp;comma;5&amp;percnt; of new arrivals&amp;comma; according to forecasts by the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;Apemip&amp;period; Among our customers&amp;comma; we have more than 80&amp;percnt; retirees or people who&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;are about to be and who anticipate&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><strong><span class&equals;"s1">Apart from the tax aspect, why do these new residents choose Portugal?<&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><span class&equals;"s1">There are many reasons for this&amp;colon; the Mediterranean climate&amp;comma; the authenticity of the center of Lisbon and certain villages&amp;comma; the coastal aspect&amp;comma; the gastronomy&amp;comma; the culture&amp;comma; etc&amp;period; There is a real sweetness of life in Portugal that quickly attracts expatriates&amp;period; As proof&amp;comma; none of our customers who have left in recent years have yet returned&amp;excl; There is also a real gain in purchasing power, estimated at 35&amp;percnt; for French people moving to Portugal&amp;period; It's also a very calm country&amp;comma; which is reassuring&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><strong><span class&equals;"s1">Won't the massive influx of new residents drive up real estate prices?<&sol;span><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><span class&equals;"s1">There are around a quarter of foreign buyers in Portuguese real estate today&amp;comma; which is certainly a large but not insane share&amp;period; But it's true that prices have started to rise since the introduction of this tax measure and the arrival of new residents&amp;period; However, they are still measured&amp;comma; Portugal did not experience a speculative bubble in the 2000s like France&amp;period; For example&amp;comma; for properties sold on our site &amp;lpar;therefore new or renovated properties&amp;rpar;&amp;comma; the price per square meter ranges from 4 to 9&amp;period;000 euros for central Lisbon&amp;period; In the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;Algarve&amp;comma; in the south of the country&amp;comma; the square meter starts at 2&amp;period;500 euros&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3"><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;latribune&period;fr&sol;vos-finances&sol;immobilier&sol;expatriation-une-fois-au-portugal-les-gens-n-ont-plus-envie-de-revenir-607968&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Source<&sol;a><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;