Foreigners invested €923M on UR in 2021

Overseas residents and investors spent nearly €1Bn on doing up properties in Lisbon in 2021.

The amount represents an increase of 20% on the previous best year in terms of renovations which had been in 2019 (€762 million). Some 1,767 properties were purchased in the city’s Urban Rehabilitation Area (ARU) by citizens from 83 nationalities. It was an increase of 6% on 2019 when 1,673 properties were purchased to do up.
It was a record investment according to data published by Confidencial Imobiliário on Monday (11 April).
For the first time last year, foreign citizens exceeded the €500,000 average investment for each refurbishment project carried out, now standing at €523,000. This amount is 48% above the €353,000 invested per project by the Portuguese for the same period.
Among the 83 nationalities, US citizens stand out as the biggest investors with a total of €134 million, representing 15% of the overseas share, followed by the French with €126.1 million, (14% of the share), the Chinese with €119.7 million invested (13% share), the British €91.4 million (10%) and the Brazilians with an investment of €67.7 million (7%).
Looking at the most popular areas of Lisbon in which to invest in 2021, the top neighbourhoods were Santo António (€176.6 million), Arroios (€142.7 million), Estrela (€106.9 million), Misericórdia (the only neighbourhood in the historic city centre where overseas investors are buying property) (€100 million) and Avenidas Novas which attracted €98 million of investment.