Foreigners invest €35 million in Hyatt Regency Lisbon luxury apartments

The US hotel group Hyatt Regency Lisbon is building its five-star Hyatt Regency Lisbon apartments in the capital’s Belém district.

The €70 million project comprises apartments that can be bought by investors and rented out by the hotel chain to overseas tourists.
In exchange, the apartment owners get a guaranteed 3% on their investment. The Hyatt is in Belém next door to the Lisbon Congress Centre (Centro de Congressos de Lisboa (former FIL). The 200 apartment project is a partnership between Hyatt, Fibeira and Realttejo, a subsidiary of United Investments Portugal (UIP) which own the Pine Cliffs in Albufeira and the Sheraton, Cascais.
The Aparthotel will be managed by UIP for 10 years guaranteeing the owners a minimum return of 3% per annum regardless of whether it is rented out or not.
At the end of this period, the monthly return received by the owners will continue but only in line with the actual take-up rate from tourists.
This hybrid form of combining a luxury Aparthotel owned by investors and rented out to tourists “combines the tangible asset of property investment with worry-free financial investment since the apartments will be managed by UIP” says Daniel Correia, the Managing Director of UIP Real Estate in an interview with ECO.
The investors can live in their apartments for free for up to four weeks a year with the limitation of having the right to stay for only one week at peak season in July and August.
So far over 30% of the 200 apartments have been sold for around €50 million while 20% have been reserved. From those already purchased, €35 million came from overseas investors (65%), particularly from the Middle East, Asia and South America, namely Brazilians, Chinese, Turks and Iranians.
In terms of prices, the Hyatt Apartments cost nearly a million euros. A one-bedroom starts at €685,000-€920,000, while a two-bed starts at €890,000-€1.5 million. A three-bed apartment will set the investor back €2.5 million.
These amounts are attractive for overseas investors who have applied for authorisation for residency through investment (Golden Visa) which requires a minimum investment of €500,000 as the Hyatt mentions on its site.