With newly established twice daily flights from the UK to Porto courtesy of the low cost airline Ryanair, the Minho, one of Portugal’s most beautiful and rich regions, is turning into the latest European property hotspot for Brits seeking a new home overseas.
The Minho is Portugal’s most northerly province and it offers a more temperate climate than the rest of the country with warm summers and mainly mild winters that appeal strongly to the British taste.
Property prices across the region have remained pretty much static for the last three years, but thanks to a number of changing factors investment in Portugal’s latest property hotspot could now be a wise financial move.
Just this year Ryanair flying from Stansted have begun offering twice daily flights to and from Porto which opens up the entire Minho region and in particular the most attractive towns, villages and countryside along the Minho River. This will increase the region’s presence on the travel map and create an influx of British visitors. In turn this will make holiday rental accommodation more in demand and promote second home ownership in the region as well.
Furthermore, recent road improvements have led to the region becoming more accessible from Spain and the rest of Portugal which opens up Minho to the rest of Europe as well.
Another advantage that will likely promote property prices in Minho is the significant investment that has been made in telecommunications in the region recently which makes home working and telecommuting entirely possible.
Because the Minho region has never endured massive influxes of tourists before this has kept the cost of living as well as property prices realistic to low. You can expect to eat out locally for around £10 a head and dine well, and finding charming restoration property bargains from as little as £40,000 is common.
The region has a great deal to offer visitors, second home owners and the growing number of foreign retirees seeking a home from home abroad. Minho is on the wild Atlantic coast and the region has many lush green forests and meadows that contrast beautifully with the deep blue ocean and cloudless skies. The range of scenery across the region is breathtaking and it isn’t just the Atlantic that frames the region. The Minho River adds its own range of natural beauty as do log cabins, cobbled back streets and the towns of Viana do Castelo and Ponte de Lima which are steeped in history. Viana do Castelo is regarded as the region’s main town and one which is currently benefiting from a sympathetic restoration project thanks to EU funding. The town is a very traditional Portuguese town and one offering a host of sites and entertainment opportunities for visitors and residents alike.
Ponte de Lima is another of the region’s most popular and traditional towns steeped in history and awash with monuments and offering such diverse activities and attractions as a very popular golf course, horse riding, the Arnado Beach, wine tasting and the Feiras Novas and Vaca das Cordas festivals.
If you’re interested in buying into this region and potentially benefiting from investment gains over the medium to long term from the promotion of property in the Minho then expect to pay around £140,000 currently for a well established detached 4 bed property with large gardens near Valenca, £75,000 for a more rural or smaller property town and as little as £40,000 for a rustic ruin in need of renovation.
Property prices in Viana do Castelo, Ponte de Lima and the region’s most popular beach resort or Moledo do Minho are expected to rise sooner rather than later. For up to date advice consider contacting real estate agents in the region.
