Americans are the most foreigners looking for a house in Portugal in the 3rd quarter, surpassing Brazil. House demand by foreigners in our country rose 29% in this period, despite a slight decrease of 4% compared to the 2nd quarter of 2022. The data are from Imovirtual, the portal with the largest number of properties in Portugal, which has just released a study based on information available on the platform on the interest of foreigners in national housing.
The United States is the country that generated the most home searches in the national territory in the 3rd quarter of 2022 (more than 2.5 million), with a growth of +132% compared to the previous quarter and +988% compared to the same period of 2022. 2021, when US traffic accounted for around 200,000 searches. Among the top 5 countries that most searched for homes in Portugal, the United States is the only one that shows growth in the quarter under analysis.
Brazil, the country that generated the most traffic looking for a house in Portugal, is thus overtaken, with a drop of -37% compared to the previous quarter, despite registering a growth of +16% compared to the same period last year. Even so, Brazilians are the second nationality that most looked for a house in Portugal in the 3rd quarter of this year, with around 1.9 million searches. “In terms of tourism, in the last two years there has been a large increase in Americans in Portugal, something that may also be influencing demand for real estate. The possibility of integrating tax exemption programs will be one of the main reasons, in addition to the cost of living and the climate, which prove to be attractive for young workers, digital nomads or even retirees”, analyzes Ricardo Feferbaum, director general of Imovirtual.
After the United States and Brazil, the country that generated the most home search traffic in Portugal in the analyzed period was France, with 1.3 million searches, despite a decrease of -12% compared to the previous quarter and -10% compared to the 3rd quarter of 2021. The top 5 are followed by Switzerland (almost 900 thousand searches) and the United Kingdom (more than 625 thousand searches), both with decreases in demand between -10% and -20% compared to the previous quarter and last year.
Lisbon is the most sought after district by foreigners, with an increase in interest of +21% compared to the previous quarter and +81% compared to the 3rd quarter of last year. Porto is the second most sought after district, with increases of +4% and +46% in the same periods. Braga, Aveiro and Leiria are the following regions, which despite the decrease in demand compared to the previous quarter (-3%, -12% and -25%), grew compared to the 3rd quarter of 2021 (+49%, + 74% and +16%).
Overall, in the 3rd quarter, foreign interest focused mainly on the purchase of housing, the only category that grew +4% compared to the 2nd quarter. This is followed by the leasing of an apartment and the purchase of an apartment, which remained stable in this quarter. Finally, there is interest in housing rentals, which fell -32% compared to the previous quarter.
Source: Diário Imobiliário