Property sales in Portugal were up during the first six months of the year despite a decrease in the second quarter due to the suspension of the Golden Visa scheme.
Just over 50,000 properties sold in the first half year, according to the Association of Professionals and Real Estate Companies of Portugal (APEMIP).
The rise in sales volume over 2014 was an impressive 24.8%. However, between the first and second quarter of this year there was a drop of 4.7% due to the impact the government’s bungled legislation amendments which caused the suspension of the Golden Visa programme.
The president of APEMIP said that over the last year "we can infer that we are witnessing the growth of the real estate sector, at a timid pace, but with good prospects."
Contributing to the recovery of the housing sector has been foreign investment, "which continues to grow, especially from European buyers, mainly the French and British" and also the "normalisation in mortgage lending by banks with more acceptable ‘spread’ levels," said APEMIP president Luís Lima.
Between January and July, according to Bank of Portugal data, high street lenders granted more than €2 billion in mortgages, the highest level since 2011.
As for current ‘spreads,’ eight lenders currently offer mortgages at less than 2% over bank rate.
