More buyers are looking to buy a property in Portugal than any other major European destination.
Buyers are seemingly turning their backs on Eastern Europe’s supposed cheap, bargain, properties. They are even preferring to buy a property in Portugal rather than Spain.
This isn’t surprising when you take into account that Spain now has a seriously over-supplied housing stock. They’ve also had more than their fair share of property scandals including some well-publicised items about local mayor’s and their involvement in seemingly inappropriate planning consents. Add to this, the clearly unfair “land grab” law in the Valencian region and it’s clear why people are looking elsewhere.
The biggest reason for buyers preferring to buy a property in Portugal is that the Portuguese banks seem to have weathered the financial storm better than elsewhere. They had very little to do with the sub-prime lending and kept to more traditional methods of credit assessment including insisting on larger deposit from property buyers. It was not unusual for a mortgage approval to take up to 3 months in Portugal. Compare this to an almost instant approval in Spain and you can see why Portugal is now seen as a nice stable place to buy a home.
Sure, the prices have come down. You can even find some bargains. In our experience, the bargains are usually because the owner has financial issues in another country. Not because of the local Portuguese conditions.
One local agent in Portugal has a small, constantly changing, list of bargain properties ranging from the very cheap right through to properties over €1m. They are active in the whole of the Algarve, the Green and Silver coasts. Let them know who you are and what you’re looking for and they will do the work for you.
Bargain properties for sale in Portugal.
UK: 0208 123 1880
Portugal: 00 350 289 356 395
