Patrícia Barão is marking her first year as partner of the residential area of Dils Portugal, which currently has a portfolio of 47 nationalities among its clients. Following the announcement of the Government’s new Housing Plan, the executive assesses that the proposal to increase the Municipal Tax on Onerous Property Transfers (IMT) for non-residents – except emigrants – could “give to the market” the image that “Portugal no longer needs foreigners”, when the scenario, she points out, is precisely the opposite. Regarding the immigration scenario in general in the country, he states that it is a context that “should not surprise us” and that it is this movement that will help “to grow our economy”.
We have the Government’s announcements for Housing, in a strategy that they say wants to bring a ‘shake’ to this construction, rental and housing market. How do you evaluate some of these measures that were put in place? The most expensive IMT for non-residents, a VAT that drops on construction and leasing, licensing with less prior control?
Housing is clearly a topic of the day and it is great to see that, in fact, our Government is looking, it has come to bring measures considered shock, and that is exactly what the market also expects, that there are measures that can clearly change, deep down, what the Housing sector is for the better. Basically, the main objective behind all these measures is to bring supply, new supply, to the market, of houses that the Portuguese can afford, whether to buy or to rent. Therefore, when we talk about these measures, namely the reduction in VAT from 23% to 6%, in construction that is considered, in essence, to have moderate rents, which are up to 2,300 euros, and for acquisitions up to 648,000 euros, they are, in fact, basically, the segment where Portuguese families can reach. If we look at the INE data from the last quarter of this year, we see that the value of properties increased by 17.2%. In other words, there was a considerable increase in residential real estate values. And this is precisely due to the imbalance that exists between what is the dynamics of demand and what is the existing supply. We see that Portuguese families are the ones that buy the most housing and we have to bring an offer that responds to the needs of the Portuguese. Therefore, these measures respond to that.
In these most recent INE data, 88% of residential property purchases are from national buyers, for the purpose of owning their own home. This also gives signs of what the market needs at this moment.
Often, we who are players From the market we heard the comment that foreigners are the ones causing this price increase. When we look at the facts, at the numbers, we see that 95% of property purchases, at least in this last quarter, are Portuguese. In other words, we only have 5% of foreign customers buying houses. And we also know that the ticket of an international client is much higher than what is ticket normal purchase of housing from a domestic customer. Therefore, the real estate market has several segments, we have to offer something to everyone.
This 5% that remained with foreigners, for example, now at the end of the first half of this year, there was even a reduction compared to the same period in 2024. It is not that foreigners are no longer interested, because, on the other hand, Portugal continues to be extremely attractive for these investors. But what could this break mean?
O ticket average for an international client is around 750 thousand euros. This is not the ticket average national customer. In 2024, there were 6.5% international customers and the numbers tell us that we are [este ano] in the 5% of international customers. It’s a lot because the domestic market is really gaining expression. We actually have a great demand and an increase in the demand for housing by the Portuguese. Foreigners remain very interested in investing in Portugal. We are a great example of this, because most of our clients are foreign clients and we see more and more nationalities looking at Portugal. We are a safe country, we have a unique quality of life, we offer excellent conditions for foreigners to fall in love with our country. And we also need foreign investment to boost our economy. The measure of the increase in IMT is a sign that is not positive at this time. We may be going to the international market to say that Portugal no longer needs foreigners, or at least that it is increasing what is a tax with some impact on the acquisition of houses by foreigners in Portugal. Therefore, as far as we are concerned, this is a measure that must be reevaluated and that we hope will, in fact, be rethought.