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Housing Sales Begin to Temper Rate of Growth

28 June 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner

While Portugal’s real estate sector continues to show positive growth, the pace of growth is slackening. An index of housing prices, the INE’s IPHab, reported that housing prices rose by 9.2% q-o-q, a decrease of 0.1%. Housing sales fell by 5.6%, in turn, compared to the end of 2018.

The markets for new homes also continued to diverge from that for existing homes. While the index of new home sales grew by 6%, compared to 8.5% in the previous quarter, the price of existing homes rose by 10%, up from 9.5%.

Between January and March of this year, buyers acquired a total of 43,826 residential properties in Portugal, compared to 46,421 in the previous quarter, a fall of 5.6%. Again, the pace of sales of new homes fell more dramatically (-7.4% q-o-q) than that of existing homes (-5.3%). Nevertheless, the Portuguese real estate market looks set to a cool off.

Original Story: Público – Luísa Pinto

Photo: Adriano Miranda