Real estate prices continued to rise in Portugal late last year to record highs, but the coronavirus epidemic may well be a game-changer. At least that is what most real estate agencies think, according to a study by the Imovirtual site which interviewed hundreds of professionals in the sector. The expected drop is 25%, but some believe that prices will simply stabilize. Lisbob, the expatriate assistant in Portugal, tells you all about this investigation which does not bode well for Portuguese real estate.
60% of Portuguese real estate agencies predict a fall in prices
Real estate prices continued to rise in Portugal late last year to record highs, but the coronavirus epidemic may well be a game-changer. At least that is what most real estate agencies think, according to a study by the Imovirtual site which interviewed hundreds of professionals in the sector.
The expected drop is 25%, but some believe that prices will simply stabilize. Lisbob, the expatriate assistant in Portugal, tells you all about this investigation which does not bode well for Portuguese real estate.
Another change in the dynamics of the post-covid real estate market 19 is related to the rental market. For 43% of respondents, long-term rentals will increase and, therefore, there should be a 72% decrease in short-term rentals.
More than half of the real estate agencies that responded did not use any support measures (61%). However, for agencies that chose to ask for help, 59% asked for access to dismissal and 26% asked for a moratorium on the payment of credits. Despite this, in the most critical period of the pandemic and containment, 51% of the agencies said that they had nevertheless carried out transactions, but the vast majority carried out few operations (42%), and only 1% declared having increased their activity.
The Imovirtual questionnaire received 476 responses and was sent at the end of April. The majority of participants (31%) come from the Lisbon region, 18% from the Porto region and 13% from the Setúbal region.
