British are still the main resort property buyers in Portugal

The British are still the main buyers of houses and villas in Portugal’s Algarve resorts according to a study.

The Resorts Market in Portugal undertaken by Confidencial Imobiliário in partnership with the APR – Portuguese Association of Resorts (APR) and with the support of Turismo de Portugal (Portuguese tourist board) revealed that in the first half of 2019 UK citizens continued to be the main buyers of houses in Algarve resorts representing 58% in the Albufeira-Loulé axis — the main area in the Algarve for residential tourism.
The average investment value from the British is €5,621m2 also increased like-for-like on the previous half when it had stood at between €5,000 and €5,500 m2. No other nationality came close to the British although purchases had been made by 13 other nationalities, the biggest buyers being from Ireland, France and Holland. China, Russia, South Africa and the USA were other nationalities.
In the Barlavento region there were 12 nationalities of investors, the largest group being the British (27%), the French (19%), Swedish (14%) and Irish (11%). It is the Swedes who invest the most in this area, on average €3,214 m2. Within the resorts market on the Albufeira-Loulé axis the highest prices per property are achieved, over €7.6 million. In second place is the Atlantic Coast where the price per house can reach €6.7 million.
Per square metre, the Albufeira-Loulé axis show the highest prices in the market (€4,723 m2), a significantly higher amount than seen in the other areas within the Algarve (72% higher than Sotavento and 43% higher than Barlavento). When compared to the Atlantic Coast, the prices along the Albufeira-Loulé axis are 20% higher.
Rui Menseses Ferreira, President of the APR emphasises that during the first half of 2019, the resorts property market continued to be in a cycle of sales price recovery which had begun the previous year, despite the slower rate vis-vis the end of 2018.
Therefore, after having achieved an increase of 18.3% at the end of 2018, the increase in value for this type of assets is now up 10.7%.
Portugal’s Algarve resorts represent a market which is closely interlined with British buyers who are among the largest number of buyers of this type of asset and for which the fluctuation in the exchange rate of the pound sterling has the greatest influence on house prices, with alternating periods of upswings and downturns, reflecting the rise and fall of Sterling since Brexit was announced in June 2016.