Investment in Portuguese property to double this year

Investment in Portuguese property is expected to double this year, according to agents.

Portugal may have seen its fair share of tough economic times, but Cushman & Wakefield's latest report suggests the horizon is bright for the country, with investment expected to more than double in commercial real estate.

Spending on commercial properties is expected to climb up to 800 million euros in 2014, Luis Rocha Antunes, head of the firm's capital markets group in Lisbon told Bloomberg, more than twice as much as the 322 million euros spent in 2013.

"There are big funds looking at commercial real estate in Portugal," he said. "Investor appetite for Portugal is clearly on the rise."

Indeed, the country followed Ireland in completing its three-year bailout scheme without the safety net of precautionary credit, and now joins Spain as a European lifestyle destination with a more promising financial future post-recession.

“Portugal is on the map again for property investors,” Antunes said. “The economic indicators are positive and investor sentiment is improving.”

The RICS/Ci Portuguese Housing Market Survey for May 2014 also found that confidence is on the up in the country, with positive sentiment standing at +15 on the scale (a measure of both sales and price expectations), the seventh consecutive positive monthly reading.

Chris White, MD of Ideal Homes Portugal, agrees that the mood is optimistic across all real estate sectors: "Confidence has returned to the property sector in Portugal 2014, certainly we’ve seen an increase not only in buyers from overseas in the traditional Algarve areas, but also, we currently have three clients who have spotted the opportunity available and have purchased plots of land, and Ideal Homes Portugal are now helping them design luxury developments where there will be multiple units for sale."

Even one of the BBC's Dragons, famed for their financial nous, has breathed fire into Portugal's engines, says White. "Duncan Bannatyne purchased a home in glamorous Vale do Lobo where properties often go for prices between ?3m - ?4m."

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