The Portuguese believe house sales will stagnate this year, a study by Imovindo reveals

Home real estate transactions are expected to stagnate in 2024. This is at least a fact indicated by 45.8% of Portuguese (buyers, owners and consultants) surveyed by Imovindo, who believe that the number of transactions will remain the same as last year. In the same study, 40.7% of Portuguese believe that the number of transactions will decrease this year.

The majority of respondents (56.1%) assume that with regard to buying and selling a home, the expectations they had at the beginning of last year were not met.

Regarding interest rates, 67.8% of participants indicated that they would decrease, although they remained high, while 15.3% said that they would not decrease.

Of the indicators that most influenced when buying a home last year, 50% acknowledged that the price of the home was the biggest factor in the decision, with 31.3% citing geographic location and 12.5% ​​citing the condition of the properties. .

Regarding house prices for this year, 39.7% of respondents believe that they will remain the same, 37.9% believe that there will be an increase in prices, and 22.4% believe that prices will decrease.

Of the nearly 15,000 respondents, half attribute the main reason for the impact on the real estate market to the economic crisis, while 27.6% point to interest rates, 6.9% to the war in Europe, and 3.4% to the fall of the government.

On the other hand, 37.9% of respondents feel that Portuguese families bought the most homes last year, while 25.9% point to foreigners. Also, 25.9% declared themselves investors and only 5.2% were young workers.

One of the topics addressed in this survey is the entry into force of the More Housing program, which 10.3% of survey respondents viewed positively.

Among the three most positive measures highlighted by participants were: simplification of licensing, 40.4%; Exemption from capital gains from the sale of real estate to repay the loan 38.6%; Reduction from 28% to 25% of the special interest rate on income to 36.8%.

On the contrary, the three negative points highlighted by the participants are: forced rent of vacant houses, 46.4%; Restrictions on rent increases for new contracts 35.7%; Old rents are updated at 25% inflation.