In 2018, 19,912 homes were sold to non-residents in Portugal, 14.5% more than last year. In global terms, sales to foreigners represent 8.2% of the total purchases made last year (242,091 properties). This is official data collected by the Office of Studies of the Association of Portuguese Real Estate Professionals and Agencies (APEMIP).
According to the same source, total acquisitions from non-residents represented an investment of more than 3,400 million euros, 13% of the total value of property sales in 2018 in Portugal.
The French were the greatest buyers in Portugal in 2018, representing 28.2% of total sales to non-residents. It is followed in the top five by the British (14.9%), Swiss (7.7%), Germans (6%) and Brazilians (4.9%).
"Foreign investment continues to be very important in the domestic real estate scene. More and more transactions are carried out without resorting to any investment attraction program (such as golden visas or the Tax Regime for Non-Habitual Residents), but they are still very relevant, especially when we talk about the competitive advantages of investing in Portugal," states Luis Lima, president of APEMIP in a statement.