VIC Properties to build around 3,000 new homes in Lisbon between Matinha and Prata
The CEO of Portuguese residential housing developer VIC Properties, João Cabaça, says it has plans to build around 3,000 new homes in East Lisbon close to the riverfront between Matinha and Prata.
The property developer is also studying some projects focused on the Portuguese middle class market which would help alleviate the country’s chronic housing shortage, telling the business daily Jornal de Negócios “it’s important for us to be in this sector”.
In addition, VIC Properties has announced a hotel management contract with Six Senses, the luxury hotel brand from IHG Hotels & Resorts for its project Pinheirinho on the coast at Comporta. Six Senses was chosen to manage a hotel with 70 rooms and 58 branded residences with completion slated for 2028. In practice, there is also the possibility of buying luxury housing from the Six Senses brand.
João Cabeça also revealed that the credit from Novobanco used to buy Pinheirinho has almost been totally paid off.
“Our project with Six Senses is the first in Portugal from a globally recognised hospitality brand with an ultra-luxury placement whereby we offer the possibility of buying a town house or apartment from the same branded residences,” he said.
He also confirmed that a €1.7Bn tourism project at Pinheirinho would be 100% financed by private capital.
VIC Properties has three real estate projects. In addition to Pinheirinho, it has Prata Riverside Village, Matinha (both in Lisbon) and Pinheirinho in Comporta
As for the affordable housing crisis, João Cabeça said the solution would have to be concerted and multi-dimensional.
Private developers, particularly large ones, had to think about big investments for workers accommodation and for tourism employees. It was an issue that needed to be hammered out with central and local government entities for projects that would actually safeguard the social sustainability of the region, but admitted there was a lack of land available for this kind of affordable rented construction.
Prata Riverside Village has 400 homes delivered and 200 yet to be completed. By the time the project is concluded in 2026, Prata will have contributed to providing 830 new homes in Lisbon.
The development comprises 12 buildings for housing, offices, and commerce (shops and food outlets) as well as featuring 26,000m2 of new commercial and leisure spaces.
As for Matinha, Lisbon City Council gave planning permission for the development in December with construction plans slated for this year.
However, the land will have to be decontaminated first (it used to house factories and gas works)
On the affordable housing shortage João Cabeça said he believed that the solution lay with private capital and EU funding.
“If it were possible to put hundreds of thousands of new homes onto the market tomorrow, I guarantee the price of housing would significantly reduce and the problem would be resolved.
“It’s not going to be refurbishment projects here and there in historic city centres that will solve the problem; we need solutions that get the market moving, and we need to do it now for this generation, developed by those developers that have the courage to do it”, he said.
