Foreigners invest €464 million in housing in Lisbon’s Urban Rehabilitation Area
In the first six months of 2024 overseas investors spent €464 million on buying 800 residential properties in the Lisbon Urban Rehabilitation Area (LURA).
The total number of properties purchased remained stable compared to the same period in 2023 when €456 million was spent on 790 properties.
It also shows that the end of the special incentive regimes based on property purchases such as the Golden Visa and Non-Habitual Resident schemes for overseas has not deterred foreigners from snapping up properties in Lisbon with the average buying price set at €582,700 per transaction.
The data was revealed by Confidencial Imobiliário, considering housing acquisitions made by private buyers within the perimeter of the Lisbon Urban Rehabilitation Area, which covers 21 of the 24 parishes of the municipality (excluding Santa Clara, Lumiar and Parque das Nações).
Although foreign investment in housing remained stable, there was a slight fall in demand for properties in the LURA and consequent market share, going from 41% of the amount in 2023 to 31% in the first half of 2024. In terns of the number of transactions, the share went from 33% to 28%, respectively. This is the lowest in five years and is due to a strong recovery of domestic investment.
After falling 14% in value and 23% in number of transactions in 2023, Portuguese housing purchases grew 55% and 31%, respectively in H1 compared to the half-yearly average of 2023.
The Portuguese acquired 2,070 residential properties in the first half of this year, totalling €1.0Bn, which means that they currently make up 72% of the market in number of operations and 69% in value.
