Investment in Golden Visas double in October

Last month the Portuguese government issued 125 Golden Visas – double on September. Some 118 were through investment in property.

The investment from the ARI scheme (Authorisation for Residency through Investment) doubled in October compared to September with €74 million invested according to statistics from the Portuguese immigration and borders authority SEF.

In September, investment had fallen back 19% on August. In October 125 Golden Visas were issued from property investment bringing in a total of €66.8 million.  Only €7.3 million came from capital transfer to a Portuguese bank.

Of the Golden Visas issued from purchasing property, 19 were from buying property for urban rehabilitation schemes.

In six years the ARI programme launched in October 2012 has seen an accumulated investment of €4Bn, €3.6Bn of which came from investment in property.

Lisbon, Cascais and Sintra are the districts of Portugal which have most attracted investment since 2012, while not one district in the interior of Portugal has attracted investment through the programme.

The Mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina, aware of the problem of investment concentrated in only certain Greater Lisbon metropolitan areas, has called on each region to promote flexible and adaptable visas.

He says the Golden Visas should remain but should be distributed and adapted to the needs of each region in Portugal.

Fernando Medina says, “The Golden Visas instrument was created at a time when the country was facing a particular economic cycle. In the case of Lisbon, they had a fundamental role in terms of attracting investment.”

He went on to say that as time had passed the programme has contributed to pushing up property prices in the capital.

“Today circumstances are fairly different and the programme should therefore be more flexible with a formula that enables the instrument to be adapted to territories, taking into account the different needs of particular areas of the country.”