The French are more and more numerous to invest in real estate in Portugal. A weekly magazine recently sounded the alarm with this shocking sentence on the front page. The French millionaires who are buying up Portugal.

Real estate, a very, very French passion. The French love real estate. It is even the number 1 investment. An attraction that partly explains the surge in real estate prices in recent years. Accentuated by a level of very low rates allowing to indebt itself at lower cost.

It is true that more and more compatriots are investing in Portugal. In early February, the newspaper Visão was sounding the alarm with this shocking sentence. The French millionaires who are buying up Portugal. Let's be honest, this sentence is deliberately provocative and moreover it does not reflect the reality. The French are far from being the only ones responsible for the increase of the real estate market in Portugal.

The price of the m² in Lisbon or Porto, close to that of Lyon or Marseille

Beyond the sweetness of life and the guaranteed sunshine that Portugal offers, real estate prices have been very close to the prices practiced in some large cities in France for the last 3 years. Today a ruin located in the historical center of Porto costs between 4000,00 and 5000,00€ per m². For a 85 m² in Lisbon the price per m² is varies between 3,500.00 and 5000,00€ depending on the area, the services offered, etc..

Despite this, Portugal is one of the most interesting markets in Europe and continues to attract multiple nationalities. Last year, foreign buyers represented 57% of the transactions conducted by this structure. The French were among the top three, along with Brazilians and Chinese.

What about the rentals

The price of rentals has also risen sharply at the beginning of 2019, as an example, a T2 apartment located not far from Boavista Avenue in Porto is rented around 1200,00 or 1400,00 €. Without offering quality services or even have heating. However, it is still possible to find rentals for less than 1000,00 €. On the other hand it will not be necessary to pretend to have quality services, nor even to be located in a beautiful district. 

The market will continue to evolve

In the first three quarters of 2018, more than 132,000 properties were sold in Portugal, 47,000 of which were in the Lisbon region alone. This annual increase of 22%, according to data from the National Statistics Institute, generated a transaction volume of €17.9 billion, 30% higher compared to the same period of 2017.

The trend is not about to reverse. The share of foreign investors could increase further from 5% to 10% in 2019 leading to a price surge from 12% to 20%. The Franco-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates that there are 50,000 French expatriates in Portugal.

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