Revenues from property developers and investors can offset Covid-19

The Portuguese Association of Real Estate Developers and investors has come up with a programme aimed at relaunching the sector.

Among the measures in the Kick-Start Programme (Programa Relançar) which was launched on 2 May is a call to relaunch the Government’s Golden Visa programme, reduce VAT on new build construction to 6% and scrapping the Additional Municipal Council Tax on Housing (AIMI).
The aim of the programme is to not only mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the sector, but also attract investment and put Portugal back on the path to economic recovery post-Covid-19, building confidence among national and overseas investors.
According to the APPII, the ‘Kick-Start Programme’ is based on a Real Estate Investors Manifesto, an initiative from 200 real estate investors who are members of the APPII and which crystallises the concerns of members as well as proposals to swiftly relaunch the sector and thereby the economy.
In a communiqué, the association states “attracting investment right now and under these circumstances takes on a fundamental role.”
“We should prepare an integrated and encompassing strategy for the relaunch of the economy, as swift as possible, which reflects the length of the Covid-19 pandemic, with complementary support measures that encourage the return to economic activity and economic growth and linked to attracting more investment,” says Hugo Santos Ferreira, Vice-President of the APPII in the manifesto.

The measures are:

Relaunching the Golden Visa and Non-Habitual Residents (NHR) programmes for investment attraction.
Cutting planning permission procedure times with the digitalisation of the same.
Slashing VAT on new-build projects to 6% to make new middle class housing projects viable for developers.
Scrapping AIMI municipal council property tax which in effect is a double taxation on companies wanting to invest.

Hugo Santos Ferreira says, “The real estate sector has proved to be one of the main sectors capable of regenerating after a crisis with a positive knock-on effect on other activity sectors, extending to tourism, commerce, industry, construction and many others.”