IP03

2017 / iberian.propery // 49

ISSUE: TOP IBERIAN cities //dossier

It is impossible to talk about barriers to real estate investment

without mentioning Portugal’s positive aspects and attractions.

There is one undeniable truth: Portugal is fashionable for

several reasons, and it remains in the sights of foreign real

estate investors, as well as others. The Portuguese property

market is considered extremely appealing worldwide.

Portugal offers excellent competitive conditions and im-

portant attractions:

- It is considered a safe country;

- It has verygood air, maritime and land transport connections;

- Excellent climate, excellent cuisine, trulywelcoming people;

- Political and social stability;

- Interesting rates of return on investment;

- Golden Visa Policy;

- Excellent quality hotel infrastructures, as well as services.

Contrary to the possible contraction of English investment

expected as a consequence of Brexit and, with the English as

the principal investors in Portugal, the reality is that this phe-

nomenon created a market of opportunities for the country.

In order to anticipate the possibly negative conditions result-

ing from Brexit, the British have reinforced their investment

in Portugal even further, by obtaining Golden Visas and

purchasing luxury assets.

The Lisbon, Porto and Algarve areas are especially attractive

to investors.

The cityof Lisbon is undeniablyone of the favourite destinations.

A special note must be made of the incentives created by the

government forurban regeneration, recoveringhistoricdistricts,

restoring the architecturalheritage and turning these into assets

that generateaprofit, forexample luxuryhotels, aswellas others.

Lisbon is increasinglybecomingan internationallyrecognisedcul-

turaland technologicalcentre,whichdrives investment, namely

hosting the PortugalWeb Summit, the Real Estate Summit, etc.

Construction of the Cruise Terminal on Lisbon’s riverfront

attracts an increasing number of investors, denoting positive

change, as does the construction of hotels, office buildings,

housing and an entrepreneurship hub.

The difficulties that are considered challenges and which

obstruct real estate investment by national and foreign

investors are not only in Lisbon, and are diverse:

- The widespread implementation of Local Lodging by

owners has led to demand outweighing supply, with the

resulting rise in rents and sale prices;

- Difficult access to credit, namely for national companies;

- Weak productivity and the strong deleveraging needs of

many companies;

- High number of non-performing loans in banks;

- Great bureaucracy and slowness to approve processes,

grant licenses, etc.

- Implementation of a new property tax: AIMI, a tax added

to the Municipal Property Tax.

Maribel

Galeas Aguilar

CERAT,

Consultores

de Engenharia

Administrator

«Contrary to the

possible contraction

of English investment

expected as a

consequence of Brexit,

the reality is that this

phenomenon created a

market of opportunities

for the country»