Controversial change to Portugal’s golden visa scheme to weigh heavily on Lisbon and Porto’s property market
- New rule, which comes into effect in July, excludes the capital Lisbon and Porto from qualified destinations for property investments
- The change to the golden visa programme triggers a rush of property buyers to qualify for the residency scheme
“It’s inevitable that the programme will become less attractive as Lisbon and Porto are major cities,” said Luiz Felipe Maia, managing director at Maia International Properties, which has offices in Lisbon and Hong Kong.
If applicants need to invest the same amount for a property in rural areas and not in cities, it might be deemed as an unattractive investment, Maia said. Besides getting a residency, investors also look for good properties whose capital value is likely to rise to recover their investment, he added.
While capital values of luxury homes in Lisbon declined, overall prices across Portugal rose 5.9 per cent last year, making housing unaffordable for many locals amid the coronavirus pandemic that saw the economy contracting by 8 per cent. To cool down prices and encourage investment in less popular districts, the government is rolling out the policy change.
