Visitors at “Moving to Portugal Show”, an event organised by the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in the UK, have expressed a high interest in the Portuguese property market, with the top reasons for attending being related to residency.
According to Portuguese media, more than half of the visitors attended for residency and visa information (54.5 per cent), followed by tax (46.6 per cent), housing prices (42.2 per cent) and investment opportunities (37.8 per cent), SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
This surge in interest shows that the market is changing, as the organisers pointed out.
The recent statistics show that British buyers are looking to move faster than ever before, with 37 per cent of individuals planning to move to Portugal in less than one year in October 2023, compared with 33.6 per cent in October 2022.
Next year, another three events are expected to occur, including one in Dublin in early 2024 and two in London – in March 2024 and October 2024.
According to an SEF report from 2020, around 46,238 UK residents lived in Portugal, with the majority of those living in the Faro region.
More specifically, 49.8 per cent of residents, which translates to a total of 23,027 people, live in Faro, followed by another 9,633 or 20.8 per cent in Lisbon and Coimbra and Leiria as two other popular destinations for UK residents in Portugal. Around 4,959 Brits live in these two Portuguese cities, accounting for 10.7 per cent of all residents.
The data also shows that steady increases in British residents have reached 34.6 per cent between 2010 and 2019.
However, the truth is house prices in Portugal are some of the most expensive in Europe as the price per square meter on average is around €10,000, making Portugal the second-most expensive country to buy a house in the region. The first one is Switzerland, and a house there costs around €1 million, with a square meter costing around €13,280.
Moreover, Sweden is another expensive country to buy a house – with a square meter costing around €6,992, while a house of 100 square meters can go up to €699,200.
The same goes for Germany (€480,000), France (€463,900) and the Netherlands (€411,600), with the rural places being cheaper than urban areas.
On the other hand, countries with the lowest price of square meters are Bulgaria (€165,000), Romania (€137,000) and Lithuania (€114,500).