Portuguese Housing Market Survey

“Agents explicitly mention that the political environment, with elections in October, is creating additional caution from potential investors. Present market conditions reinforce the need to assure the effectiveness of each project and all risks are carefully taken in consideration. This means, as mentioned by some agents, that sale times are lengthening, and some sellers feel an increasing pressure to set their prices accurately. Some agents state that ranges around negotiations are widening, reflecting more openness for concessions.”

“The latest figures from Confidencial Imobiliário show an increase in new houses in the development pipeline. Since January, 23 thousand units have been added to the development pipeline, on top of almost 70 thousand others launched in 2017 and 2018. This is a reaction to the demand pressures felt over recent years and to the market valorisation trend. For real estate agents, this volume is seen as an important response to stabilize price increases, having the potential to address the lack of offer in the market. Even so, each year the pipeline only represents around 22% of the respective number of transactions, suggesting that the market might remain unbalanced.”