French nationals bought more Portuguese property in the first quarter of 2016 than any other group of foreigners.
Despite the drubbing they got in Portugal in the early 1800s as Napoleon's dreams were shattered, the French surpassed the British and Chinese in their demand for a place in the sun far away from the French tax system and the misery served out by Parisian restaurateurs.
The Association of Professionals and Real Estate Companies in Portugal (APEMIP) today said that foreign investment represented 20% of all real estate transactions in the first quarter of 2016, a 3% year-on-year decrease compared to 2014, which shows that domestic demand at last is increasing after years of austerity, depression, bankruptcy and despair.
The president of APEMIP, Luís Lima, reported that the phenomenon Française "is the result of the work done since 2013 in promoting Portuguese real estate when APEMIP signed a partnership with the Syndicat National des Professionnels de l'Immobilier amid predictions that the Portuguese property market would attract the investments and savings of French nationals and those of Portuguese descent."
Unsurprisingly, Lisbon, Oporto and the Algarve continue to be the most sought after areas by property investors.
"Investment by the English (‘British’, surely. Ed) remains highly concentrated in the Algarve region and by the Chinese in the Lisbon region.
The French investment pattern has a more even distribution, "although focusing mainly in Lisbon, Oporto and the Algarve," rambles the expert.
The French are at 27%, the English at 18%, the Chinese at 13%, Brazilians at 8%, and the Belgians at 5% for the first quarter.
Luís Lima also reckons that the Belgians and Swedes have been influenced by the rise in French buyers in Portugal but gives no details as to why.
Despite the boom in French buyers in the Algarve, locals have noticed that it so far is a one way street with no pâtisserie or boulangerie in sight.
