STRONG PRICE GROWTH IN PORTUGAL

A power struggle between demand and supply is continuing to drive strong price growth in Portugal’s residential property market, according to latest industry figures.

A similar picture is depicted in the lettings market, where rents continue to rise firmly on the back of solid tenant demand and falling landlord instructions, confirms the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Confidencial Imobiliário.

Overall, new buyer enquiries remained unchanged end period of 2018 with the net balance coming in at just -2%. This follows a broadly flat underlying trend in demand over the past few months, notwithstanding the 21% net balance reading in September of last year.

What’s more, enquiries were reportedly flat in all three regions covered in the survey. Likewise, the agreed sales net balance indicator pointed to no change in transactions at the national level, although sales did reportedly rise very modestly across Porto and the Algarve.

The report says that the softer trend in activity is having an impact on the National Confidence Index, a combined measure of near term price and sales expectations, but this indicator still remains comfortably in positive territory at plus 15 in October compared with plus 27 in September but it’s the weakest reading in four years.

Meanwhile, the headline new instructions indicator edged further into negative territory in October with a net balance of 27% reporting a fall. Significantly this marks the nineteenth consecutive month in which the supply of properties for sale have declined.

On the back of this, prices continued to rise firmly at the headline level with a net balance of 24% of respondents citing an increase. Expectations for the coming three months have moderated slightly but are still suggestive of further price inflation nonetheless.

At the regional level, solid price growth is expected in the Algarve whilst momentum is expected to slow slightly in Porto and Lisbon. Further ahead, contributors expect prices to rise by 3% on average nationally in the coming year.

In the lettings market, tenant demand continued on an upward trajectory, albeit the pace of growth in the latest results was the softest since February 2016. Alongside this, new landlord instructions declined once again.

As a result, the rental growth indicator continued to point to further gains. Expectations suggest this will persist over the coming three months, the volume of lettings however, are envisaged to decline in the same timeframe.

Key factors driving the market remain the same. The most quoted however, is regulatory and fiscal instability, which is increasingly affecting investors’ confidence. This is particularly true in Lisbon, where new rules regarding the local lodgement market appear to have had an adverse impact on Lisbon’s Historic Centre. Macro fundamentals do however remain strong, which should help provide a positive backdrop for housing market activity in the near term.