This is what Confidencial Imobiliário shows in a recent analysis of the comparative performance of the domestic residential market, according to which, in the cases of Ireland and Spain, the market is also enjoying a more positive moment, although prices are distant from those practiced before the crisis. In Greece, the market continues its decline.
The Ci explains that the fact that Portugal leads the post-crisis recovery in view of these countries is related with the rate of falling prices, which in Portugal showed more restraint in the declines during the toughest years.
Ricardo Guimarães, director of Confidencial Imobiliário, explains that “Portugal was the country with the best behavior, having had downward adjustment in the shortest time than Ireland, Spain or Greece, which is why it is now also closer than these countries of the previously practiced price levels”.
It should be noted that Ireland was the first of these countries to start recovering house prices, but also the one that initially resented the crisis, where prices began to fall by 55%. Portugal, where the cumulative decline was 20.5%, followed, however, without a great gap, Ireland's recovery path, after both countries reached market minimum around the same time in mid-2013.
On the other hand, Spain showed some resistance before prices started to drop. After having fallen 36.4%, they have recovered 15.3% since 2014, until the third quarter of last year. Ci estimates that the cumulative recovery in Portugal since the market minimum is 17.3%.
Ricardo Guimarães also explains that "Portugal, Ireland and Spain also recovered investor confidence along this journey, while in Greece continues obvious the discomfort of the agents in investing in the market. This is reflected in the year-on-year price raise in these three countries in the third quarter of 2017, which is more significant than in countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom or France".
It should be recalled that in the Q3 of 2017 the house prices increased 10.3% in Portugal comparing to the same period of the previous year. The increase was 12.2% in Ireland and 6.6% in Spain.