Portuguese housing crisis leads to boom for agents

With the situation in the Portuguese property market looking dire, home owners are increasingly seeking out agents to sell their properties, hoping for more success than if they were to go it alone.

Head of local real estate agency Era Portugal, Miguel Poisson, said his firm had the most successful year ever last year despite the downturn, as nervous vendors sought out experts to sell their properties in a tough market rather than opting for a private sale.

"Things are going very well for us", he told The Portugal News. "Last year was Era's best ever since it launched in Portugal - we had a 30 percent rise in the number of transactions and 24 percent in revenue."

In the early noughties, property sales in Portugal remained for the most part a private affair - from 2000 to 2009, according to the Portugal News, only one in every three properties sold were through an agent. In 2010 alone, this figure rose to two in every three. "The crisis panorama was a great opportunity", said Poisson. "Owners try to sell directly, without a mediator, but they struggle to do so and end up seeking professional help."

Source: Portugal News Online