Portugal's golden ticket to recovery
Lisbon, Portugal, where home sales climbed 40 per cent last year Photo: Chris Yunker
"Sales market activity has now been recovering at a steady pace for much of the last year and, encouragingly, respondents are expecting this progress to accelerate going forward," says RICS Senior Economist Josh Miller.
Indeed, according to the latest RICS/Ci Portuguese Housing Market Survey, Portugal's property market continues to see improved signs of recovery across the country.
Performance varies between regions, but sales are increasing, while in the lettings sector, modest growth in tenant demand alongside a sharp dip in new landlord instructions, has helped to stabilise rent expectations.
In the sales market, new buyer enquiries increased for a sixteenth successive month, albeit the rate of growth has moderated since the series high set in September.
Indeed, sales have also increased for 10 months in a row, with the report forecasting "stronger growth may be on the horizon".
A large part of that demand has been fuelled by overseas interest, particularly from outside of the EU. Indeed, Portugal has seen staggering demand for its "golden visa" permits, which grant residency to investors in exchange for properties worth at least €500,000.
In two years, the scheme has generated €972 million of property purchases, according to the Immigration and Borders Service, reports the Financial Times.
80 per cent of those 1,775 permits have been issued to Chinese buyers.
Not all of the golden visa success has been glittering, though: there have been some allegations of corruption surrounding the issuing of some visas, with arrests and searches carried out at arange of locations, including the interior ministry.
In response, Portugal's interior minister, Miguel Macedo, resigned last month.
"I want to say that I have no administrative involvement whatsoever in the attribution of visas," he told the press. "In other words, I have no personal responsibility of anything that is under investigation ... I have resigned to defend the government."
Compared to neighbouring Spain, though, where interest in its own golden visa has been somewhat lacking, Portugal is comfortably winning the residency investment race. Indeed, just 324 people have signed up to Spain's scheme, according to The Local, around one person a day since its launch in October 2014.
While legal investigations continue into allegations, Portugal continues to enjoy the wave of positive sentiment.
Mational confidence, according to the RICS/Ci index, improved by three points in November from October, and has now been in positive territory for the whole of the last 12 months.
Several agents are even reporting an increase in the amount of credit supplied by some banks, comments CI spokesperson Ricardo Guimaraes.
Ideal Homes Portugal confirms that the past 12 months have been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, the company has trebled its workforce during the year and opened a new office to accommodate the growing team, with former Dragon's Den star Duncan Bannatyne officiating at the opening.
With nearly 100 homes sales completed over the past 12 months, Chris White, Founding Director, forecasts an even busier 2015.
"From a professional perspective it's really exciting to be involved in the Portuguese property market right now," he says. "There's a sense of confidence and anticipation spreading across the sector."
"If you're looking to buy property in Portugal," he adds, "now is the time."