Why is Portugal Still Popular with Property Purchasers?

Let’s be honest about it, the thought of Portugal doesn’t exactly conjure up images of exotic beaches and it doesn’t make for a particularly exciting property destination for investors either because there are no reports of overnight gains to be made in this European nation’s real estate market.

So why is Portugal still popular with property purchasers then?  There are other, more glamorous, better potentially returning real estate environments out there - and yet Portugal is an evergreen, timeless and unshakeable market particularly with British buyers.  Let’s take a closer look at the conundrum…

One doesn’t actually have to look too far to find Portugal’s appeal – it lies in the nation’s charm, its beauty, the people, the cuisine, laid back lifestyle and excellent quality of life available…and the purchasers who are actually buying property in Portugal are on the whole ‘lifestyle buyers’ or ‘lifestyle consumers.’  I.e., Portugal is more popular with those seeking a home, second home or retirement property abroad rather than those simply looking for real estate assets for investment purposes.

This was proved almost incontrovertibly recently by the well-publicized ‘Quality of Life Report’ from NatWest Bank and the Centre for Future Studies think tank.  The report examined expats’ reasons for living abroad, would-be expats’ reasons for considering a move abroad and the most popular countries in which people want to live, and Portugal came out in third position of most attractive nations in the world with expats looking overseas for a better quality, more affordable way of life.

Naturally this means there is a strong level of demand for homes for sale in Portugal. 

In terms of examining real estate in Portugal from an investment perspective, it tends to offer a more robust and stable landscape compared to other emerging markets and it is also more robust when you compare it to another British property favourite like Spain. 

Spain is generally more expensive, you get smaller properties for your money, and because large amounts of real estate stock have been built in the most popular locations, a saturation effect is now affecting the overall market.  So if you want to avoid this but still buy in a location where there is massive tourism demand in a location cheaply and easily accessible from the UK, Portugal is a natural choice.

In Portugal you can of course buy into the popular Algarve region and target the highest demand for tourism based rental and experience property prices on a par with those in Spain – but you will also be in a position to benefit from a year round tourism market because of the Algarve’s out of season popularity with golf tourists.  This can mean you get a better rental yield in Portugal even if you do target the highest priced property locations.

And you can also examine alternative investment approaches in Portugal, which may be more affordable for many people looking for a way in to overseas property.  Consider investing in real estate requiring renovation or exploring some of the recently emerging tourism hotspots like the Silver Coast where prices have yet to rise as high as they are on the Algarve.

But if you’re not an investor and you’re just looking for a good place to you’re your hat overseas, Portugal is a very popular choice with retirees and British émigrés searching for a better quality, lower cost of living – at least according to the ‘Quality of Life Report’ from NatWest Bank and the Centre for Future Studies think tank.
The prospect of enjoying a better quality of life in Portugal is a driving factor behind its popularity as an overseas destination of choice for Britons who, if you look on popular expat forums, cite reasons such as Portugal’s climate, people, landscape, wildlife, cuisine, overall safety, lack of terrorism threat, low crime rates, economic stability and the ability to buy sizeable and well priced real estate once you step back from the coast as those reasons that guided their decision to expatriate and call Portugal home.

The only real downside with Portugal is that the language is so complicated to learn!