The end of Portugal’s Golden Visa scheme and the Non-habitual Residence (NHR) programme has not brought a notable impact on the country’s housing market, in particular in Lisbon.
In fact, the housing prices in Lisbon remain above European levels, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Such conclusions have been reached in the recent report of Bloomberg which emphasises that Portugal’s appealing factors, like a mild climate, quality of life, security as well as good health and education services still attract internationals to live in Portugal.
In addition, housing prices in Portugal’s capital remain attractive, being nearly half of those in Zurich or Paris.
Despite these changes, we have seen an increase in the number of requests for information from our foreign clients, there are simply not enough houses to meet demand, even with the slowdown in sales.
According to Bloomberg, homes for sale in Lisbon are on the rise, reaching a record high in November. Particularly, house prices in Lisbon surged by a total of 5.8 per cent in comparison to the previous year, reaching €5,426 per meter square.
This is the second biggest increase in Europe, after Athens [+11.8 per cent], the hottest real estate market among the main European cities”.
After Lisbon, house prices in Stockholm went up by a total of five per cent while Madrid and Milan experienced steady increases of more than three per cent. At the same time, Paris saw a 6.1 per cent decrease in prices while Berlin registered a nearly three per cent decrease.
Lisbon’s current housing prices have increased mainly after there aren’t enough homes in order to meet the high demand, largely driven by internationals, thus most residents are not eligible to afford these higher prices, putting even more pressure on their ability to buy homes.
A previous report from Property Market-Index also said that the approval of new changes to Portugal’s Golden Visa would not affect property values, noting that home prices are expected to increase 8.7 per cent in 2024.
In October this year, the government of Portugal announced that it would abolish its Non-habitual Residence NHR tax regime, starting from 2024, which gives foreigners the opportunity to benefit from reduced tax rates on income for a period of ten years.
Such a decision was taken as part of efforts to improve the housing crisis.
As for the Golden Visa Program of Portugal, it permits wealthy internationals to acquire residency if they contribute financially and meet specific conditions.
However, in October this year, the country applied some new changes to this scheme, among them abolishing the real estate investment option through this scheme.