What's happening to the city so beloved of writer Fernando Pessoa? Workers are renovating entire districts of the capital, and cranes, ever more numerous, are invading the Lisbon skyline. The construction sector is finally recovering from its dark years, and prices are soaring. "Just eight years ago, my colleague and I were going door-to-door offering our services," confides Ukrainian mason Roman Kurtysh, amazed by the upturn in activity. Back then, at the end of the month, we each earned 53 euros. We were ready to throw in the towel." The turning point came in early 2014: three years after receiving a European aid package of €78 billion in loans, Portugal began to emerge from the economic crisis. After years of decline, the sector's growth - considered exceptional - is largely due to urban regeneration.
A booming market
With its buildings damaged by time, the popular neighborhood of Campo das Cebolas, which has long been off the tourist map, is now being reborn. A renovated apartment with a view of the Tagus River is now worth more than 900,000 euros. In 2017, real estate prices in Lisbon climbed nearly 201TP3Q in the fourth quartercompared to the same period last year. In Porto, rates jumped by 17.6% over the same period.
In Portugal as a whole, the average price per square meter increased year-on-year by 7.6% in the fourth quarter of 2017, to 932 euros per square meter.
It's hard to imagine that before 2013, "one in three buildings was empty, dilapidated or in an advanced state of decay," as Luis Mendes, a researcher affiliated with the University of Lisbon, recalls. This renaissance seems to be the fruit of 3 joint factors: low interest rates, an accommodating tax system and an unprecedented influx of tourists, over 20 million in 2017.
A large clientele of retirees
More than 50,000 French people live in Portugal. Lisbon is particularly attractive to retirees, who represent 80 % of the expatriate contingent from France. The reason: the city has lightened the tax burden of candidates for exile in 2013.
For non-EU nationals, Portuguese tax rules are just as lenient. Issued to those prepared to invest at least 500,000 euros in a property purchase, "goldens visas" are particularly popular with Chinese nationals, and in future should also be popular with...the British.