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85% of Homes in Portugal Sold in Less Than Six Months

14 September 2018

Investments in the real estate sector have already exceeded 70 billion euros since 2014. This figure is close to the size of the rescue package that Portugal requested from the troika during the financial crisis.

About 85% of the homes that came onto the market last year sold in less than six months, according to a report by Público based on figures from the Portuguese Association of Realtors and Real Estate Agents (APEMIP).

According to the president of APEMIP, Luís Lima, the average time it takes to sell a home has been dropping sharply. “In 2014 and 2015, the average time was over two years. Currently, a third of the properties take between one and six months to be sold,” adding that “the percentage of sales in less than three months will increase this year.”

According to APEMIP, of the 85% of homes that took to be sold in less than six months, 37.7% took between one and three months, 46.67% between four and six months and only 4.44% of homes stay on sale for more than a year.

The speed of the turnover reflects the high level of demand in the market that accounted for 11% of GDP last year, according to the Portuguese Association of Real Estate Developers and Investors (APPII).

“The current unpredictability and insanity of the legislative process is endangering a sector that has been responsible for over 70 million euros of investment in Portugal since 2014. I remember that Portugal’s request for the troika’s help was on this order of magnitude,” Hugo Santos Ferreira, executive vice president of APPII, stated.

Original Story: Jornal Econômico

Translation: Richard Turner