Braga is among the three district capitals that invest the most in new housing. The city of Braga is the district capital with the highest dynamism in the creation of new residential supply, after the metropolitan capitals of Lisbon and Porto, according to the latest results of the Braga Urban Observatory, a partnership between Confidencial Imobiliária and Braga City Council.
The city in Minho is definitely on the route of real estate developers, standing out, along with Lisbon and Porto, as the district capital with the highest volume of dwellings with license applications in 2023. Only Lisbon and Porto, with pipelines in 2023 in the order of 2,400 to 2,500 dwellings, surpass the dynamics of Braga, where there were requests for the licensing of 1,062 new dwellings in the course of last year.
The remaining district capitals place the pipelines between a maximum of 805 dwellings recorded in Leiria and a minimum of less than 50 dwellings in Portalegre. Cities with a strong university, business and/or tourist focus, such as Aveiro and Coimbra, have pipelines of around 600 and 500 dwellings respectively.
Braga stands out for the realization of investment intentions in new development.
In 2023, for every new dwelling that received a license application, the municipality licensed another one, with a total of 1,089 dwellings licensed in the municipality last year. Although in absolute terms it is lower than Lisbon and Porto, this volume reflects a higher ratio of houses in the pipeline/houses licensed than either of these other two cities.
In Lisbon, the number of dwellings licensed in 2023, a total of 1,115 units, is equivalent to half of the pipeline of new dwellings that have applied for a license (2,359). In Porto, 2,050 dwellings were licensed in 2023, less than the 2,469 that entered the pipeline.
“Braga has been able to license at the same pace as developers launch new investments”
Ricardo Guimarães, director of Confidencial Imobiliário, emphasizes that "in practice, the licensing dynamics show us that Braga has been able to license at the same pace as developers launch new investments. At a time when, in general, the lack of supply continues to be one of the main constraints on the market and licensing is seen as one of the major obstacles to faster growth in supply, this dynamic puts Braga in a privileged position to attract more residents and more real estate investment".
“We have, on the side of the public entity, the capacity to respond that the market and investors are looking for today and that serve as a decisive factor in investment”
For his part, João Rodrigues, Councillor for Planning and Zoning, Urban Management, Urban Regeneration, Housing, Urban Intelligence and Technological Innovation, of the Braga City Council, says that "these figures demonstrate the dynamic response that the Municipality of Braga has given to its actions, as a licensing body, in the face of the issues that arise today with housing. In addition to the number of dwellings licensed, I think it's worth highlighting the enormous response capacity that the municipality's urban planning services have shown in the face of demand. In practice, we can consider, in absolute terms, that for every new request that came in during the year, another one was resolved – and this is very important. It means that, on the public side, we have the capacity to respond that the market and investors are looking for today and that serves as a decisive factor for investment".
The price factor is another of Braga's arguments.
With sales at an average of 1,677 euros per square meter in the 4th quarter of 2023, Braga has prices below seven other district capitals. In terms of rents, Braga is also one of the most competitive district capitals. With a contracted average rent of 8.9 euros per square meter in the 4th quarter of 2023, it is more affordable than six other district capitals, including Porto (-41%) and Coimbra and Aveiro (-14%). Without prejudice, the lack of rental supply has put upward pressure on rents, with an annual increase of 17.7% in 2023 in the values practiced in new contracts, accelerating from the 12.7% growth recorded in 2022.
The Braga Urban Observatory is a platform for aggregating and disseminating the main indicators of the residential market in this municipality, the result of a partnership between Braga City Council and Confidencial Imobiliário. This platform contains the main statistics relating to the residential market in this municipality, with quarterly updates of indicators of supply and demand for housing, as well as prices and rents.